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AN   OLD   NEW    ENGLAND   TOWN 


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AN  OLD 
NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN 

SKETCHES    OF 
LIFE,    SCENERY,    CHARACTER 

BY 

FRANK  SAMUEL  CHILD 


With  Illustrations 

SECOND    EDITION 

NEW   YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
FRANK  SAMUEL  CHILD 


Press  of  J.  J   Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


To 

The  Eunice  Dennie  Burr  Chapter 

of 
The  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 

Perpetuating  the 

Old-Time  and  the  New-Time 

Spirit  of  Patriotism 


2013161 


PREFACE. 

THE  old  New  England  town  has  peculiar  in- 
terest for  us.  It  has  taken  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  development  of  our  social  life  and  politi- 
cal institutions.  And  there  are  few  towns  that 
have  achieved  a  more  honorable  distinction 
than  Fairfield. 

Mindful  of  this  fact,  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution  who  constitute  the  Eu- 
nice Dennie  Burr  Chapter  invited  the  writer  of 
the  following  papers  to  give  a  course  of  lec- 
tures upon  the  old  New  England  town  which 
was  especially  dear  to  them.  He  was  pleased 
to  accept  this  courteous  invitation,  for  his  love 
of  Fairfield  was  deep  and  strong,  and  he  appre- 
ciated the  fact  that  the  town  had  made  large 
and  notable  contributions  to  the  life  of  the 
Colony  and  the  Republic. 


viii  PREFACE. 

Arrangements  for  the  lectures  were  consum- 
mated ;  members  of  the  Dorothy  Ripley  Chap- 
ter, of  Southport,  members  of  the  Mary  Silli- 
man  Chapter,  of  Bridgeport,  and  other  friends 
interested  in  local  history  were  invited  to  be 
present.  The  large  audiences  in  attendance, 
and  the  close  attention  paid,  evidenced  the  im- 
portance of  the  events,  individuals,  matters 
discussed. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  lectures  it  was  the 
wish  of  many  people  that  the  papers  should  be 
given  to  the  public  in  book  form.  It  was  also 
suggested  that  illustrations  would  add  to  the 
value  and  pleasure  of  the  book.  The  writer 
takes  this  opportunity  of  expressing  thanks  to 
the  kind  and  generous  friends  that  have  aided 
him  in  these  tasks. 

In  respect  to  the  subject-matter  of  the  book, 
it  is  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  au- 
thor has  not  attempted  to  write  a  history.  He 
has  gleaned  from  public  and  private  sources, 
from  official  documents  and  family  treasures, 
the  numerous  facts  and  incidents  related.  But 


PREFACE.  IX 

the  purpose  has  been  simply  to  etch  a  series  of 
pictures  so  that  the  life  of  former  days  might 
come  before  the  hearer  or  the  reader  with  a 
fair  degree  of  accuracy  and  suggestiveness. 
The  author  has  had  every  privilege  and  oppor- 
tunity granted  him  by  numerous  private  indi- 
viduals of  Fairfield,  and  the  public  libraries  of 
New  York,  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Boston. 
The  long  and  persistent  task  of  research  has 
been  a  continuous  pleasure,  for  it  has  revealed 
riches  and  opened  associations  that  are  full  of 
promise. 

In  giving  these  papers  to  the  public  the 
author  expresses  the  sincere  desire  that  there 
will  result  some  quickening  of  patriotic  senti- 
ment. It  requires  only  the  spirited  play  of 
the  imagination,  and  these  familiar  places  are 
peopled  with  men  and  women  of  the  past  en- 
gaged in  strenuous  and  varied  activities.  One 
passes  along  the  edges  of  Pequot  swamp  (the 
few  remaining  acres  of  this  famous  battle- 
ground ought  to  be  converted  into  a  little 
park  and  kept  like  to  the  days  of  old  for  the 


X  PREFACE. 

sake  of  coming  generations) — one  passes  along 
the  swamp,  and  listens  almost  unconsciously 
for  the  warning  notes  of  struggle  and  carnage 
which  once  sounded  through  the  woods.  One 
stands  on  Greenfield  Hill  looking  down  Verna 
Avenue,  that  stretch  of  exquisite,  shadeful 
greenery,  and  for  a  moment  it  seems  that  Tal- 
leyrand, who  once  tarried  at  the  old  inn,  might 
stand  by  one's  side  and  gaze  enraptured  upon 
the  glorious  scene,  or  President  Dwight  might 
cross  over  the  way  to  the  observer  and  recite 
enthusiastically  some  of  his  verses : 

"  As  round  me  here  I  gaze,  what  prospects  rise, 
Ethereal,  matchless  f  " 

One  climbs  the  remnant  of  breastworks  on 
Grover's  Hill,  and  it  all  comes  back  to  him — the 
terror  of  anticipated  assault,  the  courage  of 
brave  soldiers  defending  the  town,  the  roar  of 
cannon,  the  mystery  of  small  boats  stealthily 
making  their  way  toward  Ash  Creek,  the  stir, 
anxiety,  sacrifice,  victory,  of  long  ago.  One 
leans  against  the  ancient  whipping-post  on  the 


PREFACE.  xi 

Fairfield  Green,  and  again  there  sounds  in  his 
ear  the  whiz  of  the  lash,  the  cry  of  the  cul- 
prit ;  the  children  jeer  at  the  slave  in  the 
stocks  ;  the  prisoner  taken  from  the  jail  is  ex- 
posed to  the  punishment  of  public  gaze,  and 
all  sorts  of  curious  transactions  take  place  be- 
fore us.  It  is  these  things  and  kindred  expe- 
riences that  are  evoked  by  the  witchery  of  our 
common  imagination  and  the  few  rude  lines 
drawn  by  the  writer's  hand.  As  we  live  in  this 
strange  past,  may  it  be  that  some  high  pur- 
pose pushing  into  nobler  patriotism  shall  be 
communicated  unto  us,  so  that  the  future  shall 
be  made  the  better,  happier,  brighter.  With 
the  hope  that  men  and  women  whose  lives  are 
associated  with  the  grand  old  New  England 
towns  may  grow  strong  in  their  devotion  to 
these  precious  nurseries  of  character,  the  au- 
thor commits  this  book  unto  the  tender  mer- 
cies of  the  generous  reader. 

FAIRFIELD,  CONN., 

September  i,  1895. 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

I.  WOODS  AND  PLAINS  ;    HILLSIDE   AND 

SEASIDE i 

II.  PURITANS  AND  PILGRIMS       ....  15 

III.  INDIANS — WOLVES — TRAIN-BANDS       .  25 

IV.  DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS 43 

V.  WITCHCRAFT   AND  WITCHES      ...  63 

VI.  THINGS  SACRED  AND  THINGS  SECULAR    75 

VII.  WAR — LOVE — CAPTIVITY 95 

VIII.  THE  BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD     .     .     .   125 

IX.  POVERTY — EDUCATION — CONFLICT      .  157 


xiv.  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

X.  THE  SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE     ....  181 
XI.  JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN      .     .     .   195 

XII.  HISTORIC  MEMORIES  AND  RURAL  IN- 
SPIRATIONS        217 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN        .     .     Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

VIEW  FROM  ROUND  HILL 7 


FAIRFIELD  BEACH  AND  GROVER'S  HILL  .     .  20 

SAMP  MORTAR  ROCK 27 

COLONIAL  HOUSE  ON  MILL  PLAIN       .     .     .  57 

VERNA  AVENUE,  GREENFIELD  HILL     ...  77 

VIEW  FROM  GOULD'S  BRIDGE 105 

GENERAL  SILLIMAN'S  HOME 113 

FAIRFIELD   GREEN  IN  1776 126 

(From  an  old  print  in  Barber's  Historical  Collection.) 

BEACH  LANE 131 


xvi.  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FACING   PAGE 

LEFT  BY  THE  BRITISH 142 

ACADEMY  BUILDING 166 

THE  POWDER  HOUSE 171 

VILLAGE  ELMS 198 

SHERMAN  PARSONAGE  FROM  THE  GARDEN   .  204 

THE  PRIME  ANCIENT  SOCIETY'S  SIXTH  HOUSE 
OF  WORSHIP 217 

PEQUOT  LIBRARY,  SOUTHPORT 222 


"  O,  who  can  paint  like  nature  !   who  can  boast 
Such  scenes  as  here  enchant  the  lingering  eye  ! " 

PRESIDENT  DWIGHT. 


I. 

Woods  and  Plains;    Hillside  and  Seaside. 


I. 

WOODS  AND  PLAINS  ;   HILLSIDE  AND  SEASIDE. 

THIS  particular  old  New  England  town  nes- 
tles down  by  an  inflow  of  the  sea.  The  fellow- 
ship of  the  "  Sound  "  with  Connecticut  on  one 
side  and  Long  Island  on  the  other,  gives  infin- 
ite interest  and  variety  to  the  landscape.  The 
Indians  were  charmed  with  this  sweet  enchant- 
ment of  nature.  Their  wigwams  dotted  many 
of  the  shores. 

What  virginal  loveliness  it  was  that  painted 
itself  upon  the  eyes  of  the  wearied  immigrants 
when  they  reached  this  spot !  In  their  first 
enthusiasm  we  can  see  them  turn  aside  from 
the  hard  toil  of  rearing  log  cabins  and  cultivat- 
ing patches  of  corn.  Some  lad  has  been  on  a 
little  tramp  back  to  the  elevation  now  called 
Round  Hill.  He  has  found  an  opening  in 


4  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

the  trees  where  the  redman  is  wont  to  kindle 
his  signal  fires.  So  this  brave,  curious  son 
urges  the  family  and  neighbors  to  come  with 
him  and  see  the  landscape. 

At  length  they  stand  in  the  open  on  the  top 
of  this  commanding  eminence.  To  the  north 
they  turn,  and  endless  forests  upon  hill  and  in 
dale  wave  them  a  welcome.  To  the  east  the 
lands  seem  broken  with  the  shimmering  sur- 
faces of  little  indentations  from  the  sea.  On 
the  west  there  spreads  out  a  like  variegation  of 
woodland,  water-way,  and  small  oases  of  cul- 
tivated fields.  To  the  south  lies  the  broad, 
shifting  expanse  of  the  Sound,  reaching  into 
the  east  and  the  west  until  the  eyes  tire  of  the 
straining.  Beyond,  to  the  farther  south,  lies 
Long  Island,  its  many  miles  of  forest-covered 
sand  serving  as  a  sort  of  breastwork  against  the 
too  familiar  approach  of  old  ocean  in  its  hours 
of  tumult.  Whichever  way  the  little  company 
on  Round  Hill  turned,  it  was  to  lose  self  in 
the  dim  and  shadowy  distances  of  beautiful 
scenes. 


WOODS  AND   PLAINS.  5 

Picking  the  way  down  toward  the  shore,  we 
see  them  stopping  now  and  then  to  gather 
bunches  of  wild  flowers,  rarely  precious  in 
their  sight ;  and  they  remark  upon  the  abun- 
dance, variety,  and  loveliness  of  the  blossoms. 
For  we  must  remember  that  these  people  came 
from  a  land  of  gardens,  cathedrals,  art  galleries. 
They  were  men  and  women  of  refinement  and 
culture.  The  beautiful  must  needs  appeal  to 
them ;  and  when  it  was  not  found  in  artificial 
forms,  it  became  all  the  more  welcome  in 
nature.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  feeling 
in  respect  to  old-world  beauty,  however  earn- 
estly these  people  thrust  from  their  mind  the 
art-work  of  the  mother  country,  the  instinct 
and  sensitiveness  which  enabled  one  to  appreci- 
ate such  handiwork  as  revealed  itself  in  nature 
still  remained  active  and  fruitful. 

One  of  the  things  which  Ludlow  and  his  as- 
sociates did  was  to  stake  out  the  village.  The 
central  plat  was  reserved  for  the  Green.  The 
other  squares  were  portioned  among  the  new 
settlers.  It  is  more  than  two  hundred  and 


6  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

fifty  years  since  this  work  was  done,  but  the 
original  divisions  remain  virtually  unchanged. 

There  was  more  or  less  swamp  land  that  has 
been  converted  into  garden  or  meadow.  Trees 
have  been  felled,  others  placed  in  orderly  man- 
ner, roads  made  and  re-made  according  to  the 
times,  houses  destroyed  and  houses  rebuilt,  all 
the  minor  changes  that  necessarily  pertain  to 
the  life  of  a  town  ;  but  the  landscape  is  essen- 
tially the  same  that  greeted  the  first  comers. 

The  hand  of  taste  and  refinement  has  been 
at  work  through  the  generations.  The  soil  has 
been  subdued  and  made  productive  of  all  things 
agreeable  to  this  climate  and  location.  Yet  the 
emotions  of  the  early  residents  must  have  been 
quite  like  to  those  which  stir  us  to-day  as  we 
look  upon  the  matchless  picture. 

Visit  Round  Hill  on  a  clear  October  morning. 
It  is  a  scene  that  will  never  fade.  There  is  the 
park  expanse  which  immediately  surrounds 
one.  The  hill  has  just  enough  elevation  to 
give  it  dignity  and  command  the  prospect.  The 
turf  stretches  beneath  the  feet,  a  mantle  of 


WOODS  AND   PLAINS.  7 

velvet  verdure.  The  monotony  is  broken  by 
smooth,  winding  roads,  small  masses  of  shrub- 
bery, varied  trees  artistically  grouped. 

This  noble  promontory  is  framed  with  a  rural 
setting  it  were  hard  to  surpass.  Farm  lands  and 
bits  of  wooded  territory  press  close  beneath 
the  hill.  Beyond  is  the  wider  adornment  of 
the  shaded  towns,  north,  east,  west,  south.  The 
white  spire  of  the  church  in  Greenfield  Hill 
shines  in  the  distance.  The  mansion  of  Verna 
Farm  paints  itself  against  the  background  of 
thick  foliage.  Southport  rests  serenely  down 
by  the  edge  of  the  water,  flashing  light  into  the 
eyes  from  its  half-hidden  roofs  and  steeples. 
Bridgeport  masses  its  wide-spread  surface  be- 
neath the  gaze  ;  its  tall  chimneys,  great  shops, 
various  institutions,  pleasant  homes,  woven  into 
forms  that  suggest  busy  life  and  manifold 
works.  Black  Rock  pushes  into  the  sea. 
Grover's  Hill,  crowned  with  its  commodious 
and  restful  country  seats,  imparts  a  touch  of 
subdued  elegance. 

Between  Round  Hill  and  the  shore  lie  the 


8  AN   OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

squares  made  by  Ludlow.  The  ample  propor- 
tions of  the  houses  are  barely  discernible  amid 
the  embowered  streets.  One  catches  a  glimpse 
of  a  red  Norman  tower,  a  shining  band  of  rail- 
road, now  and  then  a  roof,  an  occasional  flag- 
staff, some  portion  of  the  old  Town  Hall,  a 
dark  spire,  a  white  house-front,  the  straggling 
rear  proportions  of  a  great  brown  mansion, 
here  and  there  patches  of  colonial  yellow,  an 
ample  and  substantial  brick  barn  half  clad 
with  vines,  vast  and  interesting  variety  of  ma- 
terial. 

And  all  this  landscape  is  brightened  and  glo- 
rified by  the  myriad  tints  of  autumn.  Rain- 
bows have  been  woven  into  the  whole  setting  of 
the  picture.  Nature  is  aflame  with  its  splendor 
and  brilliancy  of  manifestation.  Meanwhile 
the  infinite  and  changeful  waters  of  the  sea 
spread  their  charm  and  beauty  just  beyond  the 
old  town  and  its  neighbors,  giving  tone,  relief, 
suggestion,  offset,  to  the  gorgeous  scene.  Did 
some  one  say,  "  See  Naples  and  then  die  "  ? 
It  were  scarce  worth  while  to  ring  down  the  cur- 


WOODS  AND   PLAINS.  9 

tain  for  so  small  an  inducement.  See  Fairfield 
from  Round  Hill  on  a  perfect  October  day,  and 
live. 

But  there  is  an  all-year-round  beauty  pecul- 
iar to  the  place.  When  winter  comes  and 
nature  is  stripped  of  bright  colors  and  gay 
forms,  there  still  remains  a  wealth  of  beauty. 

Walk  to  Osborn  Hill  some  clear,  crisp  morn- 
ing, after  the  rain  has  frozen  upon  tree,  and 
bush,  and  rock.  What  a  transformation : 
There  are  the  same  outlines  of  beauty.  We 
see  the  same  houses,  fields,  streets,  shores. 
But  every  object  is  hung  with  crystal.  It  is  a 
look  into  fairyland.  Gems  are  scattered  with 
such  prodigality  that  we  count  them  common 
things.  The  sunshine  has  been  caught  by 
every  tiny  twig  and  rough  stone,  withered 
blade  of  grass,  massive  tree,  and  bold  rock. 
The  October  brilliancy  has  suddenly  returned 
and  assumed  fresh,  radiant  forms.  Gold,  sap- 
phire, pearl,  chalcedony,  all  the  jewels  of  the 
world's  royalty,  the  diamonds  of  the  African 
mines,  the  silver  of  Peru  and  Nevada — are  they 


10  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

not  scattered  through  the  landscape,  dimming 
the  eyes  with  their  glory  ? 

It  is  always  beautiful,  this  gem  of  landscape 
by  the  sea.  He  must  be  blind  indeed  who, 
taking  it  into  his  vision,  does  not  nourish  his 
soul  upon  it.  Whether  one  tramps  through 
the  marshes  in  damp,  gray  days,  studying  our 
flora  in  order  to  write  "  How  to  Know  the  Wild 
Flowers,"  or  lingers  in  field  and  forest  on  a 
midsummer's  day  to  glean  pictures  for  "  The 
Friendship  of  Nature,"  devotees  of  the  beau- 
tiful treasure  the  inspirations  which  come  to 
them  amid  these  scenes. 

And  like  inspirations  belong  to  you  and  me 
as  we  put  ourselves  in  the  mood  and  open  our 
eyes  to  the  scenes  that  stretch  before  us.  This 
setting  of  nature  is  not  an  insignificant  factor 
in  the  development  of  character  and  the  deter- 
mination of  events.  We  have  thought  it  well 
to  point  unto  this  landscape  opulence,  so  that 
we  might  get  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  men, 
the  deeds,  the  spirit,  the  life,  peculiar  to  this  old 
New  England  town.  For  environment  is  bound 


WOODS  AND   PLAINS.  II 

to  express  itself  in  terms  of  manhood  and  ac- 
tion. We  may  therefore  expect  that  such  a 
landscape  as  has  been  described,  as  well  as  the 
many  sorts  of  weather  characteristic  of  these 
shores,  and  the  manifold  trials  which  sturdy 
pioneers  must  face,  will  contribute  generously 
to  character,  destiny,  achievement. 


II. 

Puritans  and  Pilgrims. 


II. 

PURITANS  AND  PILGRIMS. 

THE  first  settlers  came  with  a  common  inher- 
itance of  the  best  English  manhood.  They  all 
submitted  to  a  common  environment  of  un- 
tamed wilderness,  Indian  peril,  fickle  weather, 
stern  subsistence. 

These  pioneers  came  in  three  companies — 
the  band  from  Windsor  in  1639,  the  band  from 
Watertown,  and  later  still  the  band  from  Con- 
cord. 

These  Massachusetts  emigrants  represented 
three  ecclesiastical  tendencies.  First  there  were 
the  men  that  called  themselves  Independents. 
Plymouth  and  Pilgrim  are  the  words  which  sug- 
gest them.  There  were  also  men  that  had 
Presbyterian  preferences.  And  there  were  men 
who  still  loved  the  Church  of  England.  These 


1 6  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

people  were  Puritans.  Circumstances  wrought 
the  three  classes  into  the  Congregational  form 
of  church  life. 

The  emigrants  came  from  a  land  that  was 
already  quickened  unto  enlarged  prosperity. 
Holland  was  doing  much  for  England  by  way  of 
teaching  thrift,  trade,  commerce,  manufacture. 
A  new  spirit  of  enterprise  and  activity  was  wide- 
spread. The  emigrants  were  involved  in  the 
contagion.  Comrades  had  been  into  Holland. 
There  was  intimate  correspondence  between  the 
men  who  remained  in  England,  the  men  who 
tarried  in  Holland,  and  the  men  who  adven- 
tured into  America.  The  spirit  of  progress 
prevailed  among  them. 

The  families  that  came  to  these  shores  were 
variously  circumstanced.  Some  of  them  never 
possessed  large  means  ;  others  had  lost  through 
persecution  the  property  which  belonged  to 
them  ;  and  quite  a  number  brought  a  greater 
or  less  fortune  with  them.  They  all  adapted 
themselves  to  circumstances  with  a  good  sense 
and  a  cheerfulness  most  remarkable. 


PURITANS  AND   PILGRIMS.  I? 

We  quite  properly  think  of  them  as  men  of 
ideas  and  principles.  This  was  their  shining 
characteristic.  It  had  been  a  rough  discipline 
through  which  they  had  passed  in  the  mother 
country.  They  were  largely  Puritans,  and  they 
insisted  upon  pure  life,  pure  doctrine,  pure 
worship.  Since  many  of  them  loved  the  English 
Church,  their  revolt  was  not  necessarily  a  revolt 
against  it,  but  a  revolt  against  corrupt  practice 
and  tyrannical  method.  When  King  James 
said  concerning  this  class  of  people,  "  I  will 
make  them  conform,  or  I  will  harry  them  out 
of  the  kingdom,"  he  said  a  very  foolish  and 
cruel  thing.  But  his  foolishness  and  cruelty 
wrought  to  the  ultimate  gain  and  triumph  of 
the  emigrants. 

Wiclif  had  long  ago  set  the  people  of  England 
thinking.  A  thinking  man  is  like  a  hidden  force 
in  nature.  The  time  comes  when  the  ferment 
of  thought  expresses  itself  in  the  visibility  and 
momentum  of  action.  Contact  with  the  enter- 
prise and  politics  of  little  Holland  served  to  has- 
ten the  course  which  events  were  bound  to  take. 


1 8  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

Men  of  ideas,  they  thought  for  themselves. 
And  they  had  thought  out  Church  and  State 
problems  to  the  extent  that  they  were  prepared 
to  move  along  the  lines  of  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence. 

Men  of  principles,  they  believed  that  right- 
eousness was  the  true  foundation  of  personal 
character  and  national  life.  They  looked  for  a 
rule  that  was  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  God. 
It  was  their  conviction  that  the  individual  pos- 
sessed certain  inalienable  rights.  They  pro- 
posed to  get  into  some  land  where  these  rights 
might  be  freely  exercised.  In  the  providence 
of  God,  Unquowa,  an  Indian  expanse  of  terri- 
tory by  the  great  arm  of  the  sea,  was  destined 
to  become  a  nursery  of  such  ideas  and  princi- 
ples as  were  seething  in  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  the  Puritans. 

Given,  then,  such  stock  as  we  have  indicated, 
subject  it  to  the  training  peculiar  to  the  times, 
transplant  it  to  this  new-world  environment, 
cultivate  it  in  accordance  with  the  hard,  rigorous 
conditions  which  prevailed,  and  what  is  the  re- 


PURITANS  AND   PILGRIMS.  19 

suit?  Men  that  are  bound  to  take  influential  and 
commanding  part  in  the  solution  of  great  world 
problems,  and  make  the  pages  of  history  lively 
with  vast  enterprises  and  noble  achievements. 
Roger  Ludlow,  the  man  who  spied  out  the 
land  which  we  call  Fairfield,  was  a  gentleman 
from  Wilts  County,  England,  a  man  of  station, 
culture,  force.  Arrived  in  Massachusetts,  he 
became  at  once  an  important  factor  in  the  con- 
duct of  public  affairs,  holding  several  offices  at 
different  times,  one  of  them  being  that  of  dep- 
uty-governor. Disappointed,  however,  at  the 
choice  of  Haynes  and  Bellingham  for  governor 
and  deputy-governor  in  Massachusetts  Colony, 
he  was  glad  to  turn  his  thought  toward  the 
settlement  of  Connecticut.  He  came  to  Wind- 
sor with  a  little  company.  There  was  trouble 
concerning  the  choice  of  lands.  But  the  tasks 
of  settlement  went  forward.  Ludlow  was  a 
keen  observer  of  men,  one  swift  to  measure  the 
needs  of  the  occasion,  a  thinker  intent  upon  the 
wise  solution  of  the  peculiar  difficulties  which 
beset  the  colonists. 


2O  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

On  January  14,  1639,  all  the  "  free  plant- 
ers "  of  the  Connecticut  Colony  met  at  Hart- 
ford and  adopted  a  constitution.  Hooker  had 
preached  his  now  famous  sermon,  in  which  he 
asserted  the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  and 
to  limit  the  powers  of  their  rulers,  some  seven 
months  earlier  in  the  year.  It  is  conceded  that 
the  germ  potentially  of  the  colony  constitu- 
tion was  that  sermon  of  Hooker's.  But  the 
mind  of  Ludlow  also  is  seen  by  some  scholars 
in  the  important  document.  As  one  compares 
it  with  Ludlow's  Code  of  1649,  the  evidences 
seem  good  that  the  same  intellect  shared  both 
tasks. 

It  was  while  in  the  pursuit  of  hostile  Pe- 
quots  that  the  beautiful  scenery  and  the  fine 
water  privileges  of  these  shores  attracted  the 
deputy-governor.  Permission  being  granted 
him  to  form  a  settlement  in  this  section,  he 
brought  the  first  little  company  of  pioneers  to 
Unquowa  during  the  summer  or  fall  of  1639. 

Land  was  purchased  of  the  Indians.  Lud- 
low was  the  leading  spirit,  and  his  were  the 


PURITANS  AND   PILGRIMS.  21 

shaping  influences  in  the  new  town.  There 
was  a  certain  arbitrariness  and  demonstrative 
energy  that  suggested  how  he  proposed  to  have 
his  own  way.  But  the  people  associated  with 
him  knew  their  own  mind  about  things,  and 
they  were  not  slow  to  express  their  sentiments 
and  convictions.  While  they  were  ready  to 
hear  advice  and  consider  propositions,  they 
were  not  the  kind  of  men  to  submit  to  dic- 
tation or  to  repress  their  opinions.  Circum- 
stances compelled  all  hands  to  work  ;  and  while 
the  settlers  toiled  in  the  subjugation  of  the 
land  and  the  support  of  life,  they  kept  their 
minds  busy  with  plans,  and  they  carefully 
weighed  current  ideas. 

Scarcely  did  they  rear  humble  places  of 
abode  for  themselves  ere  they  chose  a  site  for 
the  meeting-house,  and  built  the  rough,  sim- 
ple structure  where  they  could  securely  house 
their  public  worship,  and  frankly  speak  with 
one  another  upon  the  great  questions  of  faith 
and  practice.  In  this  little  log  building  the 
public  school  was  also  started  and  the  town 


22  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

meetings  were  held.  Religion,  education,  poli- 
tics, all  centred  here,  and  the  men  took  a 
hand  in  the  management  of  these  diverse 
spheres  of  activity  as  occasion  arose  for  it. 
When  the  Rev.  John  Joanes  came  to  Fairfield, 
in  1644,  with  his  associates  from  Concord,  the 
prosperity  of  the  town  seemed  assured,  and 
the  brave  settlers  threw  themselves  with  re- 
newed zeal  into  making  the  place  a  strong  and 
influential  part  of  the  colony. 


III. 

Indians,  Wolves,  Train-bands. 


III. 

INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS. 

THE  village  was  platted  just  as  we  see 
it  to-day.  But  it  was  untamed  wilderness. 
When  the  trees  were  cleared  away,  and  the 
cabins  made  to  dot  the  squares,  it  was  at  best 
a  scraggy,  stumpy,  uneven  stretch  of  rough 
acres. 

But  it  was  not  long  ere  it  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance of  comparative  liveliness.  The  men 
carried  their  muskets  with  them  when  they 
worked  in  the  field  or  marshalled  the  family  to 
meeting.  And  the  only  safe  way  to  go  into 
the  woods  was  to  go  in  little  companies  prop- 
erly armed. 

Although  a  friendly  spirit  was  manifest  on 
the  part  of  some  Indians,  yet  there  were  other 
redskins  that  haunted  the  forests  in  order  that 


26  AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

they  might  surprise  some  thoughtless  child  or 
solitary  man,  and  carry  away  a  prisoner  or 
take  human  life.  I  find  the  following  in  the 
journal  of  William  Wheeler :  "  The  Indians 
about  Fairfield  were  fond  of  war,  and  often 
solicited  the  Old  Chief  for  leave  to  destroy  the 
English.  Once  they  obtained  it  on  condition 
of  pulling  up  a  large  neighboring  white  oak 
tree.  Well,  to  work  they  went  and  stript  off 
its  branches,  but  still  the  trunk  baffled  their 
utmost  endeavors.  '  Thus/  says  the  Old 
Sachem,  '  will  be  the  end  of  your  war.  You 
may  kill  some  of  their  papooses,  but  the  old 
plaguey  stump  t'other  side  the  great  waters 
will  remain  and  send  out  more  branches.'  " 

The  tragical  end  which  came  to  the  warlike 
Pequots  in  the  year  1637,  when  they  had  re- 
treated to  the  swamp  which  now  bears  their 
name,  was  a  sort  of  warning  to  the  Indians  of 
the  neighborhood.  They  did  not  venture  to 
harass  the  white  man  to  any  great  extent. 

They  continued  their  semi-possession  of  ter- 
ritory. There  were  signal  fires  kindled  as  of 


-ji'iifV     "--.  .•».;  ---;-  ^ 
%?-***> 
/**fei 
fete*-^' 

/''-.'•,"..-  -«fi-jgi,~ 


';,>:  ^  IHUH 


INDIANS,  WOLVES,  TRAIN-BANDS.          2? 

yore.  "  Samp  Mortar,"  the  curious,  massive 
rock  on  the  hill  amid  the  trees,  with  its 
capacious  bowl  in  which  the  corn  was  placed 
and  converted  into  Indian  meal,  still  served 
domestic  purposes  and  gathered  the  tribes  into 
its  vicinity.  (It  remains  to-day  one  of  the 
most  interesting  relics  of  a  by-gone  age  and 
race.  On  the  west  side  of  Mill  River,  some 
three  miles  from  the  Sound,  eighty  feet  above 
the  bed  of  the  stream,  the  precipice  hangs 
over  the  narrow  gorge — a  wild,  rugged,  pict- 
uresque bit  of  scenery,  suggestive  of  Indian 
habit  and  character.) 

Occasionally  the  Indians  came  into  the  set- 
tlement to  trade,  although  such  permission 
was  granted  under  narrow  restrictions. 

Imagine  how  the  children  gazed  at  them 
with  wonder  or  defiance,  while  the  men  watched 
them  with  a  keenness  and  fidelity  matched 
only  by  that  of  the  savage  himself. 

The  settlers  of  the  town  were  also  griev- 
ously annoyed  by  the  wild  beasts  that  kept 
stealing  their  provisions  and  domestic  animals. 


28  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

Nay,  the  wolves,  the  bears,  the  wildcats,  as- 
saulted the  very  people  when  the  occasion 
was  favorable.  Many  a  night  were  these  road- 
ways travelled  by  the  destructive  and  danger- 
ous beasts.  The  stealthy  tread,  or  the  hungry 
growl,  or  the  angry  snarl  sounded  distinct  upon 
the  ears  of  the  family  gathered  closely  in  the 
log  house. 

The  town  authorities  were  obliged  to  offer 
rewards  for  the  killing  of  these  thieving  creat- 
ures. 

On  February  16,  1664,  it  was  ordered  "that 
any  one  who  kills  a  wolf  in  the  town,  if  he 
expects  to  be  paid  for  it,  he  shall  bring  the 
wolf's  head  to  the  treasurer,  who  shall  keep  an 
account  thereof." 

It  is  not  stated  what  the  officer  did  with  the 
interesting  relics.  According  to  accounts,  he 
must  have  gathered  a  goodly  collection  in  the 
course  of  years. 

On  August  22,  1666,  "  The  Townsmen  order 
that  whoever  kills  a  bear  in  the  bounds  of  the 
town  at  any  time  between  this  and  the  next 


INDIANS,  WOLVES,  TRAIN-BANDS.          29 

Town  meeting  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  Town 
Treasury  fifty  shillings  for  each  old,  and  for 
cubs  twenty  shillings  each." 

So  we  see  that  the  first  years  in  the  life  of 
the  town  were  times  of  thrilling  adventure. 
Richard  Lyon  would  meet  Captain  Robert 
Turney  and  tell  how  he  saved  a  sheep  from  the 
death  grip  of  a  bear.  Henry  Rowland  and 
Andrew  Ward  would  relate  how  they  were 
watched  by  a  prowling  Indian  who  skulked 
behind  old  stumps  and  great  trees.  Nathan 
Gold  would  gather  the  villagers  about  him  and 
narrate  his  journey  to  Hartford.  Marshal 
Samuel  Morehouse  would  call  to  mind  that 
Pastor  Hooker's  wife  was  carried  in  a  litter  all 
the  way  from  Boston  to  the  new  settlement  on 
the  Connecticut  River.  Roger  Ludlow  would 
tell  about  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Hooker,  and 
the  impression  it  made  upon  the  men  that  went 
to  Hartford  to  form  a  government  for  the 
colony. 

When  training  day  came  everybody  expected 
to  see  the  sight,  and  enjoy  a  little  neighborhood 


30  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

leisure.  It  was  a  fine  company  of  men  that  the 
women  and  children  looked  upon  as  the  drilling 
was  done  on  the  village  Green  and  up  and 
down  the  village  streets.  See  the  men  in  their 
jerkins,  small-clothes,  short  cloaks,  steeple- 
crowned  hats.  The  muskets  and  the  long  pikes 
were  the  favorite  weapons,  with  belt  for  sword 
and  cartridge-boxes.  The  soldiers  often  wore 
quilted  coats  or  iron  breast-plates  as  a  protec- 
tion against  the  arrows  of  the  enemy. 

On  the  training  days  of  1653  the  people  of 
Fairfield  discussed  the  perils  of  war  with  the 
Dutch.  England  and  Holland  were  not  on 
friendly  terms,  and  it  was  rumored  that  the 
Dutch  from  New  Amsterdam  proposed  to  pass 
up  the  Sound  and  capture  the  shore  towns. 
What  with  wringing  a  living  from  the  soil,  put- 
ting up  decent  buildings,  killing  off  the  wild 
beasts,  guarding  against  the  sly  assaults  of 
Indians,  keeping  up  communication  with  neigh- 
boring settlements,  it  was  a  very  toilsome  and 
perilous  life.  And  now  the  encroachment  of 
the  Dutch  was  added  to  their  difficulties. 


INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS.          31 

Feeling  upon  this  latter  subject  was  intense 
and  bitter.  The  General  Court  of  Connecticut, 
in  March,  1654,  ordered  the  arrest  of  Thomas 
Baxter,  of  Fairfield,  for  disturbing  the  peace 
of  the  colony.  He  proposed  to  move  immedi- 
ately against  the  enemy.  He  gathered  a  lit- 
tle company  about  him,  and  seized  a  vessel 
off  these  shores,  for  the  purpose  of  attacking 
the  Dutch. 

When  arrested  and  tried  for  such  conduct,  it 
was  testified  in  court  here  by  John  Odell,  that, 
"  as  Baxter's  men  went  up  and  down  the 
streets  of  Fairfield  with  their  swords  drawn  in 
their  hands,  he  heard  William  Ellitt  swear  with 
a  great  oath  (but  knows  not  the  words)  that 
with  them  hands  of  his  he  would  be  avenged 
upon  the  blood  of  some  of  them  which  had 
taken  his  captain  ;  and  he  supposed  there  was 
about  a  dozen  of  them  which  so  run  with  their 
swords  drawn." 

It  would  create  something  of  excitement  to 
see  to-day  a  dozen  men  rushing  along  our 
streets  shouting  vengeance  and  brandishing 


32  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

swords.  Doubtless  the  excitement  was  wide- 
spread two  hundred  and  forty-one  years  ago. 
But  peace  was  declared  between  England  and 
Holland  in  1654,  so  that  the  war  cloud  lifted. 

It  must  have  been  an  interesting  scene,  two 
years  later,  when  in  April  there  assembled  in 
Fairfield  the  chief  sachems  of  the  neighboring 
Indians,  that  they  might  take  counsel  with  the 
white  brothers  concerning  the  sale  of  these 
familiar  acres.  Although  Ludlow  had  paid  for 
the  land  which  he  distributed  among  the  new 
settlers,  the  Indians  still  felt  that  they  had 
claims  upon  it. 

This  April  meeting  of  1656  was  to  decide  the 
matter.  A  new  sale  was  made,  the  deed  signed 
by  various  prominent  individuals,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  cloth,  pots,  kettles,  looking-glasses, 
scissors,  knives,  hatchets,  hoes,  and  spades 
passed  into  the  possession  of  the  friendly  In- 
dians of  Pequonnock  and  Unquowa. 

And  now  many  questions  came  to  the  court 
and  community  for  settlement.  Ludlow  had 
left  Fairfield  in  high  dudgeon,  and  yielded  his 


INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS.  33 

efficient  leadership  to  whomsoever  circum- 
stances and  the  choice  of  the  people  might 
elect  (which  ultimately  signified  the  leader- 
ship of  Nathan  Gold). 

There  were  questions  about  land,  manage- 
ment of  the  Indians,  adjustment  of  boundaries, 
laying  out  of  highways  ;  discussion  concerning 
the  Golden  Hill  reservation,  and  the  rights  of 
the  Pequonnocks.  Things  sacred  and  things 
secular,  matters  political  and  matters  ecclesias- 
tical, they  came  indiscriminately  into  church 
meetings  and  town  meetings,  so  that  it  was 
hard  to  say  whether  the  church  was  running 
the  town,  or  the  town  was  running  the  church. 

It  was  a  difficult  task  which  the  Rev.  John 
Joanes  had  in  hand,  the  shepherding  of  such  a 
flock.  Edward  Johnson,  in  his  book  entitled, 
"  Wonder  Working  Providence  of  Zion's  Sav- 
ior," gives  us  a  sonnet  upon  the  subject : 

"  In  Desart's  Depths  where  Wolves  &  Beares  abide 
Thou  Joanes  sits  down  a  weary  watch  to  keepe 
O'er  Christ's  deare  flock,  who  now  are  wandered 
wide." 
3 


34     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

But  the  reverend  scholar  did  very  good  ser- 
vice, and  retained  the  love  and  confidence  of 
his  people  to  the  day  of  death. 

When  Governor  Ludlbw  took  his  departure 
there  was  genuine  sorrow  and  disappointment 
on  the  part  of  many  citizens ;  but  the  sturdy 
manhood  of  the  people  asserted  itself,  and  life 
flowed  along  according  to  the  accustomed  way 
with  its  usual  variety  of  adventure  and  hard 
labor. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Wakeman,  successor  to 
Mr.  Joanes,  threw  himself  with  all  zeal  into  the 
private  and  public  affairs  of  the  community. 
In  addition  to  Major  Gold  he  found  such  co- 
workers  as  Captain  John  Burr  and  his  brother 
Jehu.  It  was  a  sad  and  singular  circumstance 
that  these  four  men  died  the  same  year,  and 
caused  a  widespread  mourning  that  was  very 
deep  and  impressive. 

The  mention  of  death  calls  to  mind  the  fact 
that  the  bodies  of  these  faithful  citizens  were 
deposited  in  the  "  Burial  Hill "  (just  beyond 
the  present  residence  of  Mr.  Henry  S.  Glover), 


INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS.          35 

in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  times, 
without  any  religious  services.  Mourning  rings 
and  garments  were  quite  elaborate  those  days. 
So  that  the  whole  community  must  have  been 
plunged  into  the  gloom  of  death  emblems  and 
etiquette. 

Major  Gold  was  succeeded  by  his  already 
famous  son,  Nathan  the  Second.  The  Rev. 
Joseph  Webb,  who  pronounced  the  interesting, 
all-day-long  sermon  of  commemoration  in  honor 
of  Major  Gold,  had  been  installed  in  place  of 
the  departed  Pastor  Wakeman,  while  one  and 
another  efficient  and  intelligent  citizen  lent 
a  hand  to  the  tasks  of  common,  public  in- 
terest. 

Fairfield  was  the  centre  of  numerous  prepa- 
rations for  war.  It  being  the  shire  town,  and 
later  the  half-shire  town,  affairs  naturally  took 
their  rise  in  the  place.  We  read  various  state- 
ments in  the  town  records  concerning  the  pur- 
chase of  arms,  the  days  of  training,  the  tax  for 
support  of  militia,  the  assault  of  Indian,  Dutch, 
and  French  foes. 


36  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

Something  of  the  kind  continued  down  to 
the  ending  of  the  American  Revolution.  The 
martial  spirit  became  native  to  the  soil.  The 
means  and  measures  of  war  were  as  thoroughly 
canvassed  as  the  condition  of  the  crops.  Boys 
gave  their  play  a  soldier  character  with  an  in- 
stinct like  to  that  which  drives  ducks  into  the 
water.  Life  was  such  a  rigorous  and  uncertain 
experience,  the  town  was  such  a  conspicuous 
mark  for  all  sorts  of  attack,  the  times  were  so 
restless  and  eventful,  it  must  needs  be  that  the 
people  who  walked  these  streets  and  tilled  these 
acres  looked  upon  things  with  a  constitutional 
seriousness  that  almost  repels  their  modern 
successors. 

If  we  to-day  were  circumstanced  as  were  these 
brave  and  toilsome  people  two  hundred  years 
ago,  afraid  that  wolves  or  bears  might  steal  our 
animals  or  attack  our  children,  watchful  lest 
savages  or  white  men  might  suddenly  make  an 
onset  by  land  or  by  sea  and  destroy  the  village, 
burdened  with  the  cares  and  labors  peculiar  to 
pioneer  conquest,  it  is  quite  probable  that  our 


INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS.  37 

manner  of  speech  and  spirit  of  life  would  show 
a  like  gravity. 

And  then  there  was  not  a  little  friction  be- 
tween adjoining  towns.  Dispute  after  dispute 
arose,  and  these  wise,  earnest  men  did  their 
best  to  settle  matters.  We  find  so  much  con- 
cerning these  small  misunderstandings  that  one 
is  inclined  to  exaggerate  their  importance. 
But  closer  examination  shows  us  that  they  were 
largely  the  matters  that  grew  out  of  the  new- 
ness of  the  country  and  the  satisfactory  or 
unsatisfactory  distribution  of  the  lands. 

Communication  with  sister  towns  and  the 
great  centres  of  life  was  by  means  of  post-horses. 
It  was  an  exciting  time  when  John  Perry,  the 
carrier  of  the  mail,  the  man  of  news,  the  indi- 
vidual who  kept  Fairfield  in  touch  with  Boston, 
Stamford,  and  intervening  towns,  arrived  and 
handed  over  mail  and  news  together.  He  was 
appointed  to  office  in  1687.  The  whole  trip  was 
made  once  a  month  during  the  winter,  and 
once  in  three  weeks  during  the  summer.  He 
was  an  important  person,  a  trusty  man,  one  that 


38  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

was  compelled  to  thread  many  perils  and  show 
considerable  wit  and  discretion  in  his  journeys. 

As  he  trots  along  the  street,  we  can  see  one 
after  another  of  the  citizens  hastening  down  to 
the  inn  where  his  horse  is  changed,  or  to  the 
little  office  where  the  mail  is  distributed.  The 
venerable  pastor  of  the  Prime  Ancient  Society 
or  the  respected  deputies  who  represent  the 
town  in  the  General  Court  at  Hartford  will  not 
consider  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  walk  with 
quickened  step  down  to  the  meeting-place  in 
order  that  they  may  put  to  Goodman  John 
Perry  a  few  straight  questions  concerning  the 
trend  of  events  and  the  weal  of  the  colonies. 

It  was  during  the  latter  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  that  Captain  Kidd  was  sent  forth 
to  do  service  against  the  pirates,  and  turned 
biggest  pirate  of  all  himself.  He  sailed  about 
these  waters  for  some  years.  As  his  adventures 
were  carried  from  mouth  to  mouth,  we  know 
something  about  the  feeling  here  in  Fairfield 
when  it  was  learned  that  he  had  been  deposit- 
ing treasure  in  various  places  about  the  neigh- 


INDIANS,   WOLVES,   TRAIN-BANDS.          39 

borhood.  While  his  piracy  was  stamped  with 
strongest  condemnation,  yet  a  justifiable  curi- 
osity was  here  manifest,  and  many  were  the 
suppositions  current  in  respect  to  his  sudden 
advent  in  this  region  and  his  cunning  conceal- 
ment of  enormous  treasure. 


IV. 

Domestic  Affairs, 


IV. 

DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS. 

THE  ebb  and  flow  of  life  in  the  old  country 
influenced  to  a  considerable  extent  the  social 
conditions  of  New  England.  But  the  colonists 
themselves  were  of  course  the  important  fac- 
tors in  the  significant  transitions  of  the  times. 

Fairfield  being  the  heart  of  county  business, 
it  resulted  that  every  question  and  event  of 
the  day  was  discussed  with  a  thoroughness 
characteristic  of  our  thoughtful  people.  When 
some  brawler  was  put  into  the  stocks  on  the 
Green,  the  children  would  gather  about  the 
culprit  and  investigate  him.  When  legal  mat- 
ters drew  the  men  of  the  county  or  colony  to 
town,  the  older  people  gathered  in  much  the 
same  way  to  know  the  thing  at  issue  with 
them. 


44     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

Strict  regulations  governed  the  sale  of  liquors 
at  the  little  inn.  No  profanity  was  permitted 
among  the  citizens.  Idlers  were  set  to  work  or 
driven  from  the  town.  The  moral  tone  of  the 
community  was  excellent.  Even  the  slaves 
(for  slavery  prevailed  to  an  extent  in  Fairfield) 
behaved  themselves  generally  with  decency 
and  quietness.  There  was  considerable  traffic 
carried  on  at  this  time,  although  the  people's 
wants  were  comparatively  few  and  the  number 
of  commodities  quite  limited. 

The  first  pressure  of  settlement  and  conquest 
had  passed.  The  small  cabins  had  been  re- 
placed by  frame  houses.  A  new  meeting-house 
forty  feet  square,  clapboarded,  with  tower  in 
centre,  had  been  constructed. 

The  surrounding  forests  were  grown  thin  in 
places  where  meadow  and  pasture  had  been  laid 
out.  The  vegetable  gardens  flourished  with 
their  variety  of  products.  Sheep,  cattle,  swine, 
fowls,  made  the  town  lively  and  musical  with 
their  presence.  The  children  went  short  dis- 
tances into  the  neighboring  fields,  and  along 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS.  45 

the  borders  of  the  woods,  to  pick  the  abundant 
berries.  Fruit  trees  were  cultivated,  and  helped 
to  supply  the  people  with  food  and  drink. 
The  town  prospered  and  grew  influential 
through  the  colony. 

Meanwhile,  the  usual  changes  of  temperature, 
severe  storms,  and  natural  phenomena  peculiar 
to  the  coasts  of  this  lower  New  England,  made 
their  record. 

Mr.  Webb  notes  several  tornadoes  and  earth- 
quakes. "On  the  23d  of  May,  1700,"  he 
writes,  "  there  happened  a  most  prodigious 
tempest  in  Fairfield,  of  wind,  rain,  thunder,  hail. 
.  .  .  We  had  four  beds  wet  very  considerably, 
and  were  forced  to  move  into  the  entry  to 
secure  ours  from  the  water  which  ran  down 
in  great  abundance  in  both  the  lower  rooms. 
.  .  .  There  fell  also  very  great  hail  stones 
as  big  as  a  hen's  eggs.  'Tis  said  that  one  of 
them  taken  up  was  as  big  as  a  goose  egg. 
.  .  .  The  wind  overturned  and  destroyed 
twenty  barns.  .  .  .  Most  of  the  barns  in  the 
way  of  it  that  fell  not  were  more  or  less  dam- 


46  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

nifyed  by  it.  ...  It  took  off  the  roof  of  one 
house  endways  and  took  off  a  good  part  of  the 
chimney  with  it.  ...  It  blew  down  abundance 
of  trees  in  the  woods.  The  violence  of  the 
storm  lasted  not  above  three  minutes  as  was 
considered." 

This  seems  to  have  been  a  time  of  marked 
atmospheric  disturbances.  Mr.  Webb  notes 
others.  "On  Friday,  June  6,  sun  about  an 
hour  and  a  half  high  in  the  afternoon,  there 
was  a  noise  in  the  air  (as  was  supposed)  like 
the  report  of  a  great  gun,  very  smart,  as  if  two 
had  been  fired.  .  .  . 

"  April  30.  About  noon  we  were  sensible  of 
an  earthquake  in  Fairfield,  which  was  very  con- 
siderable. .  .  .  May  4.  Between  nine  and  ten 
of  the  clock  at  night  we  had  another  earth- 
quake, which  was  also  taken  notice  of  at  Nor- 
walk." 

Another  storm  broke  above  Fairfield  about 
this  time.  "  It  shook  the  Bible  out  of  the 
hand  of  John  Baylies,  numbed  his  arm,  killed 
a  dog  that  was  lying  under  a  chair  where  the 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS.  47 

children  were  sitting.  .  .  ."  Still  another  earth- 
quake. "  The  glass  rattled  in  ye  windows,  and 
ye  floor  seemed  to  tremble  under  my  feet  for 
some  time  in  ye  lower  room,  and  some  that 
were  in  ye  garret  perceived  ye  house  to  shake 
and  heard  a  rumbling  noise." 

These  interesting  notes  are  found  upon  the 
manuscript  of  the  sermon  preached  by  Mr. 
Webb  in  commemoration  of  Major  Gold.  The 
cost  and  scarcity  of  paper  compelled  them  to 
practise  rigid  economy  in  its  use. 

The  same  word  which  Mr.  Webb  employs 
to  describe  the  harm  done  by  the  first  storm 
mentioned  seems  quite  expressive  when  we 
call  to  mind  some  of  the  recent  storms  which 
have  visited  us.  "  Damnifyed  "  is  emphatic 
and  comprehensive. 

But  an  examination  of  the  record  leads  us  to 
believe  that  the  cold  was  intenser,  the  snows 
deeper,  and  the  winters  harder  in  the  olden 
times  than  during  the  modern.  Certain  marked 
changes  seem  to  have  come  to  the  New  Eng- 
land climate  and  seasons  alongshore  which 


48  AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

suggest  that  we  have  moved  south  into  Vir- 
ginia. 

And  now  let  us  look  upon  a  rough  sketch  of 
the  seven  calendar  days.  First  comes  Mon- 
day. The  traveller  starts  on  his  journey.  The 
farmer  goes  bright  and  early  to  his  work.  The 
children  are  sent  off  to  school.  The  gudewife 
and  her  helper  attend  to  the  washing,  and 
soon  the  yards  of  the  town  are  adorned  with 
spotless  linen  fluttering  in  the  breezes.  The 
family  fares  humbly  on  this  day ;  but  appe- 
tite is  good,  so  that  any  food  is  taken  with 
a  relish.  And  the  day  ends,  as  it  begins,  with 
family  worship ;  then  a  speedy  retirement  to 
bed. 

Tuesday  dawns  upon  a  busy  scene.  There  is 
more  or  less  baking  to  do,  and  the  week's  iron- 
ing is  also  on  hand.  But  the  town  is  alive 
with  men  from  neighboring  settlements.  It  is 
the  day  when  the  court  holds  a  session.  Law- 
yers, clients,  witnesses,  crowd  the  town  "  Ordi- 
nary," and  the  citizens  interested  in  the  mat- 
ters under  consideration  leave  their  work  for  a 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS.  49 

few  hours  and  tarry  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Town  Hall. 

Everybody  is  concerned  in  the  business  of 
the  court.  It  has  to  do  with  the  prosperity 
and  character  of  the  town.  Probably  some 
new  object  of  judicial  penalty  is  put  behind 
the  bars  of  the  small  jail.  It  may  be  that  the 
whipping-post  is  brought  into  service,  and  the 
Green  becomes  the  scene  of  a  lashing  bestowed 
upon  a  wife-beater,  or  a  lying  slave,  or  a  bois- 
terous ne'er-do-well. 

Wednesday  is  mid-week,  and  most  impor- 
tant. This  is  lecture  day.  Boston  seems  to 
have  set  the  fashion,  and  Fairfield  kept  in  close 
touch  with  this  capital  city  of  New  England ; 
although  in  Boston  Thursday  was  preferred  to 
Wednesday  for  the  mid-week  lecture.  Work 
is  put  one  side,  and  the  family  is  marshalled  to 
the  meeting-house. 

The  service  is  much  like  the  Sabbath  order. 
Mr.  Wakeman  or  Mr.  Webb  may  take  occasion 
to  speak  with  greater  frankness  than  on  Sunday 
concerning  matters  that  are  more  personal. 
4 


5O  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

The  custom  of  painting  the  face  has  been 
imported  into  Boston,  and  some  one  of  course 
brings  the  fashion  into  this  progressive  neigh- 
borhood. We  know  of  one  faithful  pastor  in 
New  England  who  told  his  people  "  that  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  Just  there  will  no  such  sight 
be  met  as  the  Angels  carrying  painted  Ladies  in 
their  arms."  We  are  to  think  of  such  practical 
matters  being  discussed  with  great  candor  and 
directness  on  Wednesday. 

Then  the  politics  of  the  day  give  frequent 
opportunity  for  forcible  lecture  talks.  This 
occasion  seems  all  the  more  favorable  for 
such  addresses,  since  immediately  after  ser- 
vice, with  a  slight  intermission  perchance  for 
quenching  the  thirst  with  cider  and  breaking 
the  fast  upon  doughnuts  and  pie,  the  men  hold 
their  town  meeting. 

Due  warning  having  been  given,  Wednesday 
after  lecture  is  a  very  convenient  tkne  for 
the  transaction  of  local  business.  "  At  Town 
meeting  April  29th,  1665,  it  was  voted  that 
upon  Wednesday  every  fortnight  after  the 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS.  51 

conference  meeting,  there  shall  be  a  towns- 
men's meeting  for  the  attentions  of  the  Town's 
occasions." 

Fast  Day  services  and  Thanksgivings  were 
generally  appointed  on  this  day  in  Connecti- 
cut. Occasionally  court  held  sessions  at  the 
time.  A  sermon  preceded  the  opening  of 
court.  In  1651  court  adjourned  to  "  meet  on 
second  Lecture  Day  in  March,  Wednesday, 
after  sermon." 

Thursday  was  on  occasion  a  very  lively  day. 
The  workers  now  saw  their  way  through  the 
week.  Large  portion  of  the  toil  had  been 
done.  A  certain  freedom  and  relaxation  of 
life  were  manifest.  Perhaps  the  militia  trained. 
Gingerbread  and  home-brewed  drinks  were 
prepared  in  great  abundance.  Arms  were  put 
into  bright  condition.  Clothes  were  brushed 
and  mended.  Everybody  appeared  spick 
and  span  clean.  The  drum-beat  sounded 
through  the  streets  and  echoed  back  from 
the  neighboring  forests. 

All  the  people  that  could  leave  their  homes 


52     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

and  walk  the  streets  or  stand  about  the  Green 
were  on  hand  to  admire  the  men  of  the  town ; 
and  everybody  that  stayed  at  home  kept  run- 
ning to  the  small  window  or  the  open  door  to 
watch  the  sturdy  company  as  it  bravely  passed 
up  and  down  the  lively  way. 

Frequent  refreshment  and  the  admiration  of 
on-lookers  stimulated  the  train-band  to  do  its 
level  best.  When  the  day  ended  there  came 
over  the  people  of  Fairfield  a  consciousness 
that  as  manly  a  company  of  soldiers  were  at 
the  command  of  the  colony  for  warfare  offen- 
sive and  defensive  as  could  be  found  in  New 
England. 

Friday  was  the  time  when  the  hard  work  of 
the  week  was  further  relaxed,  and  friends  might 
drop  in  upon  each  other  and  have  supper  to- 
gether. Occasionally  there  would  be  a  wolf 
hunt.  The  swamp  down  in  the  salt  meadows 
was  one  favorite  lurking-place  of  these  pestif- 
erous creatures.  The  men  would  surround 
the  swamp,  beat  up  the  brutes,  and  then  enjoy 
the  excitement  of  a  chase  and  a  capture. 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS.  53 

Or  it  might  be  some  fishing  expedition  which 
was  appointed.  Sea  food  made  an  important 
part  of  the  daily  fare  here  in  town.  It  enabled 
the  people  to  get  comfortably  through  many  a 
season  when  crops  were  scant  and  provisions 
low. 

Friday  was  a  good  day  for  the  boys  to  carry 
the  corn  down  to  the  old  mill  by  the  river. 
This  was  a  pleasant  outing  for  them,  and  there 
was  opportunity  to  tell  their  latest  adventures 
and  gather  any  fresh  local  news. 

Or  this  might  be  the  day  when,  as  was  voted 
in  1670,  every  male  "  from  fourteen  years  old 
and  upwards,  except  assistants,  commissioners, 
or  ministers  of  the  gospel,  shall  work  one  day 
annually  in  cutting  brush  and  making  public 
pasture." 

Saturday  was  a  sort  of  preparation  day. 
There  was  more  baking,  fixing  best  frocks,  set- 
ting the  house  in  order,  gathering  up  the  threads 
of  work  for  the  week,  and  bringing  everything 
into  the  best  condition  possible. 

The  many  things  to  be  done  in  a  rural  com- 


54  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

munity  like  Fairfield,  during  these  days,  kept 
repeating  themselves  over  and  over  again  as 
the  weeks  went  by.  Certain  kinds  of  food 
must  be  cooked  on  this  day.  A  generous  stock 
of  provision  must  be  stored  for  the  Sabbath. 
All  labor  must  end  at  sundown.  The  family 
must  be  quietly  settled  at  home.  No  noise  of 
any  kind  was  permitted  upon  the  street  when 
the  evening  had  set  in.  Supper,  study  of  the 
Bible,  reading  of  an  occasional  religious  book, 
worship,  and  early  rest — that  was  the  way  Sat- 
urday ended. 

Sunday  was  the  great  day  of  the  week. 
When  breakfast  was  done  and  the  family  had 
joined  in  worship,  every  one  prepared  for  meet- 
ing. The  drum-beat  sounded,  and  the  streets 
were  lively  for  a  few  minutes  with  the  little 
companies  marching  off  to  the  meeting-house 
on  the  Green. 

The  first  bell  was  put  into  the  tower  or  belfry 
in  1685.  "  At  a  Town  meeting  held  April  28th, 
1685,  it  was  voted,  that  the  townsmen  should 
settle  Samuel  Wilson's  matter,  about  satisfying 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS.  55 

him  for  money  the  Town  borrowed  of  him  to 
pay  for  the  meeting-house  bell." 

All  having  assembled,  a  guard  was  placed 
before  the  door  in  order  that  the  congregation 
might  not  be  surprised  or  overpowered  by  the 
Indians.  Mr.  John  Gold  "  gets  and  reads  the 
psalm,"  as  the  church  records  phrase  it.  Then 
Mr.  Wakeman  or  Mr.  Webb,  having  set  the 
hour-glass,  proceeded  with  the  service.  It  was 
long.  But  the  patience  of  the  people  was 
longer. 

At  noon  the  congregation  adjourned  to  the 
Green,  or  to  the  Sabbath-day  house  if  it  was 
winter.  They  ate  their  simple  lunches  and 
drank  their  favorite  cider,  and  as  the  drum-beat 
sounded  again  they  once  more  assembled  in  the 
meeting-house. 

The  second  service  was  like  unto  the  first. 
The  minister  frequently  continued  the  same 
theme  that  he  considered  in  the  morning.  He 
was  bound  to  be  thorough  in  the  matter.  And 
when  the  citizens  had  enjoyed  some  five  hours 
of  this  sort  of  thing  they  were  kindly  dismissed 


56  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

and  permitted  to  go  home  and  eat  a  cold  dinner. 
The  Green  and  the  streets  were  deserted  the 
rest  of  the  day. 

Evening  drawing  on  apace,  the  men  might 
have  been  seen  attending  to  their  cattle.  Then 
the  inhabitants  were  shut  into  their  homes  for 
the  night,  and  the  rest-day  had  done  for  them 
its  helpful  and  peculiar  service.  Did  an  Indian, 
a  wild  beast,  or  a  traveller  appear  upon  the  scene 
during  the  day,  there  was  a  momentary  excite- 
ment until  such  time  as  the  intruder  was  sup- 
pressed. But  the  abiding  characteristic  of  the 
Lord's  Day  in  Fairfield,  as  in  other  Puritan 
towns,  was  a  decorum,  silence,  repose,  simply 
phenomenal. 

The  records  give  us  a  fair  idea  of  the  well-to- 
do  homes  of  Fairfield  during  this  first  century. 

The  house  of  Mr.  Webb  was  a  good  example  : 
a  frame  building  with  quite  substantial  doors, 
small  windows  with  little  panes  of  glass,  the 
entry  in  the  middle  of  the  structure,  living- 
room  on  the  one  side,  "  best "  room  on  the  other, 
kitchen  extending  along  the  rear ;  a  second 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS.  $/ 

story  to  the  structure  with  several  narrow  bed- 
rooms. 

Wills  and  inventories  tell  us  how  the  house 
was  furnished.  The  floors  were  carpetless,  the 
rugs  and  Turkey  cloths  being  used  for  the 
covering  of  tables.  There  were  no  pictures  to 
adorn  the  walls.  The  rafters  were  generally 
visible.  Natural  wood  was  seen  on  every  side, 
although  some  sort  of  tapestry  was  sometimes 
used,  and  various  chintzes  and  calicoes  were 
made  into  curtains  and  hangings. 

The  living-room  had  its  tables  large  and  small, 
claw-footed,  and  made  from  some  solid  wood. 
There  were  cupboards,  stools,  a  few  chairs,  the 
spinning-wheel,  brass  candlesticks  in  which  fish 
oil  was  first  used  and  later  spermaceti  and 
tallow. 

There  was  a  great  fireplace  (Parson  Daven- 
port, of  New  Haven,  had  thirteen  in  his  house  ; 
his  son,  the  Rev.  John,  of  Stamford,  married 
Martha,  daughter  of  Major  Gold).  In  the  fire- 
place were  the  andirons ;  the  bellows  hung  by 
the  side,  and  the  warming-pan  was  close  by. 


58     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

Then  there  were  strewn  about  the  room,  or 
hung  upon  the  walls,  the  armor,  weapons,  skins, 
antlers,  which  testified  to  the  active  life  of  the 
men  in  the  defence  of  their  homes  or  the  pur- 
suit of  game;  although  the  town  soon  passed 
laws  restraining  or  forbidding  the  destruction 
of  the  deer,  whose  meat  at  the  first  had  been 
one  of  their  chief  supports. 

The  other  rooms  of  the  house  were  sparsely 
furnished.  A  half-headed  bedstead  was  placed 
in  the  room  opposite  the  living-room  ;  it  had 
curtains,  valances,  a  feather  or  wool  or  down 
bed  upon  a  hard  bottom  of  boards.  There 
were  sheets,  quilts,  counterpanes,  bolsters. 

It  was  a  cold  experience,  that  which  came  to 
the  family  on  a  severe  winter's  night.  One  does 
not  wonder  that  they  felt  the  need  of  flip,  a 
cider  preparation  into  which  a  hot  flatiron  was 
thrown  in  order  to  make  it  steam  and  sizzle. 

Cotton  Mather  tells  how  in  1697,  as  he  sat 
before  the  great  fire  in  his  fireplace,  "  the  juices 
forced  out  of  the  billets  of  wood  by  the  heat 
of  the  flame  on  which  they  were  laid,  yet  froze 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS.  $9 

into  ice  on  their  coming  out."  Another  ob- 
server writes  that  the  "  bread  was  frozen  at  the 
Lord's  table."  Yet  it  was  a  life  accompanied 
by  infinite  satisfaction.  Few  were  the  com- 
plaints, and  many  the  fascinations. 

Love-making  itself  was  never  more  interest- 
ing. In  some  parts  of  Connecticut,  courtship 
was  all  done  in  the  living-room  among  the  fam- 
ily. A  whispering-rod,  hollow  so  that  the 
lovers  could  speak  through  it,  was  put  into 
their  hands.  Seated  some  distance  apart,  they 
poured  their  billing  and  cooing  into  the  pipe. 

But  greater  freedom  was  granted  them  in 
Fairfield.  Sunday  night  being  only  half  sacred, 
it  was  largely  devoted  to  this  important  busi- 
ness. 

When  Samuel  Wakeman,  the  minister's  son, 
courted  Mary,  daughter  of  Jehu  Burr,  they 
had  all  the  liberties  of  the  living-room. 

To  be  sure,  the  rest  of  the  family  kept  an 
eye  upon  them.  There  was  to  be  no  such  scene 
as  that  in  New  Haven  (1660),  when  Jacob  Mur- 
line  went  into  the  room  where  Sarah  Tuttle 


60  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

was,  and  first  seized  her  gloves,  then  kissed  her, 
although,  "  being  asked  in  court  if  Jacob  in- 
veigled her  affection,  she  said,  '  No,'  "  so  that 
the  Court  fined  Sarah  rather  than  Jacob,  and 
called  her  a  "  Bould  Virgin,"  to  which  Sarah 
replied,  "  that  she  hoped  God  would  enable 
her  to  carry  it  better  for  time  to  come." 

There  was  nothing  of  this  kind.  Samuel  and 
Mary  were  discreet  and  strictly  attentive  to  the 
requirements  of  Fairfield  etiquette.  Matters 
were  quietly  arranged,  and  when  their  names 
had  been  read  in  public  the  proper  number  of 
times,  they  invited  their  friends  together,  the 
magistrate  made  them  one,  and  they  set  up 
housekeeping  for  themselves. 


V. 

Witchcraft  and  Witches. 


V. 

WITCHCRAFT  AND   WITCHES. 

IT  was  at  this  period  that  there  swept 
through  the  country  a  curious  epidemic  brought 
from  the  old  world  by  some  of  these  honest, 
sincere,  godly  people. 

Hundreds  and  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children  had  suffered  and  died  by  reason 
of  the  witchcraft  craze  in  England  and  on  the 
Continent.  When  it  struck  the  new  land,  it 
seemed  for  a  time  that  it  must  prevail  with  like 
havoc  here. 

The  first  outbreak  in  Fairfield  was  only  a  few 
years  after  the  settlement  of  the  place.  One 
tragic  death  was  the  result  of  the  trouble  at 
that  time. 

We  are  justified  in  saying  that  human  nature 
manifested  the  characteristics  common  to  all 


64  AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

ages  during  these  early,  strenuous  days.  When 
Thomas  Staples  brought  suit  against  Roger 
Ludlow  for  defamation  of  his  gudewife's  char- 
acter, the  evidence  in  court  was  spiced  with 
much  hot,  strong  speech.  Mrs.  Nathan  Gold 
testified,  that,  in  a  quarrel  in  the  meeting- 
house, she  heard  the  accused  woman  ask  Lud- 
low to  "  show  her  where  she  had  told  one  lie  ; 
and  Mr.  Ludlow  had  said  she  need  not  men- 
tion particulars,  for  she  had  gone  on  a  tract  of 
lying." 

This  poor  woman  was  supposed  by  some  of 
the  people  to  be  a  witch.  But  the  suit  brought 
by  her  husband  against  Ludlow  was  decided 
in  her  favor.  "  Considering  the  nature  of 
the  charge,  and  Mrs.  Staples's  relation  to  the 
church  in  Fairfield,"  it  was  ordered,  by  way 
of  sentence,  "  that  Mr.  Ludlow  pay  Thomas 
Staples,  towards  repairing  his  wife's  name  so 
defamed,  with  trouble  and  charge  in  prosecu- 
tion, the  sum  of  ten  pounds." 

Now,  while  this  seemed  to  settle  the  busi- 
ness, the  imputation  of  witchcraft  still  lingered. 


WITCHCRAFT  AND   WITCHES.  65 

In  1692  the  second  outbreak  is  recorded. 
Four  women  were  indicted,  one  of  them  being 
the  same  person  that  Roger  Ludlow  said  had 
"  gone  on  a  tract  of  lying." 

What  a  curious  scene  it  is  which  presents 
itself !  The  governor,  the  deputy-governor, 
and  assistants  have  come  down  to  Fairfield  to 
attend  the  trial.  The  excitement  in  the  town 
is  intense.  Had  they  not  foes  enough  to  fight 
without  meeting  Satan  and  his  emissaries  in 
human  form  ? 

One  can  imagine  the  terror  of  the  children, 
when  parents  spake  guardedly  and  in  whispers 
about  the  fresh  perils  that  surrounded  them. 

One  can  see  how  all  the  lore  of  the  subject 
was  discussed,  and  everybody  made  to  feel 
some  indefinable  dread,  lest  the  loud  and  angry 
winds  that  bore  down  upon  the  place,  or  the 
scurrying  shadows  which  had  a  way  of  flitting 
through  the  streets  and  along  the  Green  by 
night,  might  not  be  the  actual  voices  and 
movements  of  these  strange,  awful  creatures. 
The  town  was  profoundly  agitated. 
5 


66     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

The  charge  against  Mercy  Disborow  runs  as 
follows  :  "  Mercy  Disborow,  wife  of  Thomas 
Disborow  of  Compo,  Fairfield,  thou  art  here  in- 
dicted by  the  name  of  Mercy  Disborow,  that  not 
having  the  fear  of  God  before  thine  eyes,  thou 
hast  had  familiarity  with  Satan,  the  grand 
enemy  of  God  and  men,  and  that  by  his  insti- 
gation and  help,  thou  hast  in  a  preternatural 
way  afflicted  and  done  harm  to  the  bodies  and 
estates  of  sundry  of  their  Majesties'  subjects, 
or  to  some  of  them,  contrary  to  the  peace  of 
our  sovereign  Lord  and  Lady  the  King  and 
Queen,  their  crown  and  dignity ;  and  that  on 
the  25th  of  April  of  their  Majesties'  reign,  and 
at  sundry  other  times,  by  which  by  the  laws  of 
God  and  the  Colony  thou  doest  best  to  die. 
Fairfield,  September  15,  1692." 

Among  the  witnesses  on  this  trial  was  one 
Edward  Jesop.  The  following  is  his  testimony, 
or  a  part  of  it,  and  a  fair  sample  of  other  testi- 
mony adduced  at  the  trial : 

"  Being  at  Thomas  Disborow's  house  at 
Compo,  I  saw  a  pig  roasting  that  looked  very 


WITCHCRAFT  AND  WITCHES.      67 

well,  but  when  it  came  to  the  table  (where  we 
had  a  good  light)  it  seemed  to  me  to  have  no 
skin  upon  it  and  looked  strangely ;  but  when 
said  Disborow  began  to  cut  it,  the  skin  (to 
my  apprehension)  came  upon  it  again.  .  .  . 

"  She  brought  a  Bible  that  was  very  large 
print  to  me,  to  read  the  particular  Scripture ; 
but  though  I  had  a  good  light  and  looked  di- 
rectly upon  the  book,  I  could  not  see  one  let- 
ter ;  but  looking  upon  it  again  when  in  her 
hand,  after  she  had  turned  over  a  few  leaves,  I 
could  see  to  read  above  a  yard  off." 

The  same  night,  going  home  and  coming  to 
Compo  Creek,  "  it  seemed  to  be  high  water." 
He  then  proceeds  to  say  that  when  he  tried  to 
shove  off  his  canoe,  it  stuck  in  the  mud  "  and 
appeared  to  be  low  water."  Then  he  wandered 
all  night  trying  to  get  home. 

Now,  such  an  experience  to-day  would 
scarcely  be  laid  at  the  door  of  witchcraft. 
When  a  man  sees  double  and  sees  single,  and 
sees  that  it  is  high  tide  and  low  tide  in  the 
same  minute,  and  sees  all  sorts  of  queer  things 


68     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

and  curious  transformations,  we  are  prone  to 
think  that  he  is  "  half  seas  over ; "  but  this  was 
the  kind  of  testimony  that  helped  to  convict 
poor  Mercy  Disborow. 

The  evidence,  quite  voluminous,  was  taken ; 
the  case  given  to  the  consideration  of  the 
jury ;  but  when  it  came  to  a  matter  of  ver- 
dict, the  jury  failed  to  agree. 

Interest  in  the  matter  continued.  The  ac- 
cusation and  the  details  of  the  witch  work 
were  known  to  the  whole  community.  A  feel- 
ing prevailed,  that  while  there  was  something 
mysterious  about  the  thing,  yet  there  might  be 
less  than  was  generally  supposed. 

At  the  second  trial  two  hundred  depositions 
were  taken.  The  charges,  which  seem  to  us  in- 
describably absurd,  were  sustained  by  all  sorts 
of  curious  and  amusing  testimony. 

At  the  conclusion  of  one  trial  the  plan  was 
adopted  of  throwing  the  women  into  a  pond 
of  water,  and  giving  them  a  chance  to  sink  and 
thus  show  that  they  were  not  witches,  or  float 
and  prove  the  Tightness  of  the  verdict.  This 


WITCHCRAFT  AND  WITCHES.  69 

test  was  applied  with  indifferent  results  ;  peo- 
ple were  not  satisfied. 

Four  witnesses  swore  "  that  Mercy  Disborow, 
being  bound  hand  and  foot  and  put  into  the 
water,  swam  like  a  cork,  though  one  labored  to 
press  her  down  ; "  evidently  the  "  one  "  being 
some  interested  person  who  wanted  proof,  by 
her  sinking,  that  she  was  not  a  witch. 

However,  sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon 
this  poor  woman  by  the  governor.  But  the 
witchcraft  contagion  had  abated  to  such  ex- 
tent that  people  were  reluctant  to  see  such 
sentence  executed. 

This,  I  believe,  was  the  last  case  passed  upon 
by  the  Connecticut  judges.  A  better  mind 
was  coming  to  men,  and  Fairfield  had  always 
been  slow  to  move  in  these  matters.  At  length 
a  petition  was  presented  to  the  General  As- 
sembly in  behalf  of  Mercy  Disborow,  and  her 
life  was  spared. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  startling  and  tragical 
episodes  in  the  life  of  this  town  ;  an  episode, 
however,  which,  while  revealing  the  force  of  a 


7O     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

prevalent  superstition,  testifies  quite  as  dis- 
tinctly to  the  prevailing  common-sense  of  the 
community. 

We  are  all  prepared  to  say  that  it  was  no 
humdrum,  prosaic,  monotonous  life  which  the 
people  of  Fairfield  lived  during  the  first  century 
of  the  town's  existence.  There  may  have  been 
little  glitter  and  ostentation  about  it,  and  yet 
there  was  a  tone,  impulse,  activity,  which  spake 
conclusively  concerning  personal  and  colonial 
worth,  power,  manhood,  womanhood. 

The  forefathers  and  the  foremothers  did  their 
work  well.  The  foundations  which  they  laid 
were  deep  and  strong  in  righteousness,  liberty, 
intelligence,  industry. 

Many  compensations  came  to  them  when 
engaged  in  their  hard,  exacting  tasks.  The 
felt  presence  of  God,  the  hope  that  rises  above 
every  besetment,  the  calm  assurance  that  a 
great  destiny  shall  unfold  to  the  glory  of  a 
people  and  the  praise  of  the  Almighty,  the 
abiding  consciousness  that  the  true  and  the  real 
belong  to  them,  and  their  successors  shall  look 


WITCHCRAFT  AND  WITCHES.  J\ 

upon  its  fruition — these  were  the  compensations 
that  multiplied  and  made  life,  with  all  its  penury, 
danger,  strenuousness,  a  thing  of  sweetness  and 
joy  to  the  Puritan  pioneers  of  this  old  New 
England  town. 


VI. 

Things  Sacred  and  Things  Secular. 


VI. 

THINGS   SACRED  AND   THINGS   SECULAR. 

MRS.  JANE  G.  AUSTIN,  the  novelist,  speaks 
of  an  eminent  Fairfield  minister  in  her  story  of 
"  Dr.  Le  Baron  and  his  Daughters."  As  he 
takes  important  part  in  the  period  which  we 
now  sketch,  we  will  call  to  mind  the  incidents 
narrated  by  Mrs.  Austin. 

Mr.  Hobart,  a  young  theologue  of  Harvard, 
was  engaged  to  Miss  Priscilla  Thomas,  of  Marsh- 
field.  Her  father  opposed  the  match.  At  the 
same  time  John  Watson,  of  Plymouth,  sought 
Priscilla's  hand,  and  Noah  Hobart  heard  of  it. 
John  Watson  was  well-to-do,  and  the  young 
divinity  student  was  poor.  So  unselfish  Noah 
Hobart  advised  Priscilla  Thomas  to  accept  John 
Watson.  Although  somewhat  miffed  at  this 
suggestion  of  her  lover,  she  proceeded  in  time 


76  AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

to  act  upon  his  advice.  And  wise  Mr.  Hobart 
soon  comforted  his  heart  by  a  marriage  with 
Ellen  Sloss,  "  a  very  pretty  girl  with  a  very 
pretty  purse"  as  Mrs.  Austin  puts  it. 

It  was  not  long  before  John  Watson  died. 
His  widow  married  Isaac  Lothrop.  "  Then 
Mrs.  Hobart  died,  and  Isaac  Lothrop  died,  and 
at  last  these  two  [Priscilla  and  Noah]  stood  face 
to  face  with  only  three  graves  and  some  thirty 
years  between  them."  Then  they  were  married, 
while  Nathaniel  Lothrop,  Mrs.  Hobart's  son, 
also  married  Ellen  Hobart,  Mr.  Hobart's 
daughter. 

The  silver  font  used  in  the  service  of  baptism 
by  the  First  Church  for  a  hundred  years  and 
more  was  the  gift  of  Dr.  Lothrop  in  honor  of 
his  wife  Ellen  Hobart. 

Noah  Hobart  was  the  leader  of  thought  here 
in  Fairfield  for  a  generation.  Later  in  the  cen- 
tury his  son  became  eminent  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  serving  the  public  as  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  then  receiv- 
ing an  election  to  the  United  States  Senate. 


°linln$rav!irc  Ringer  Co 


THINGS   SACRED  AND  THINGS   SECULAR.    77 

He  inherited  much  of  his  father's  intellectual 
power.  It  was  hard  battle  which  Mr.  Hobart 
was  compelled  to  do  when  pastor  of  the  old 
church. 

Mr.  Webb,  his  predecessor,  had  served  faith- 
fully. Many  things  of  importance  occurred 
during  his  pastorate. 

The  church  records  tell  us  that  on  March  4, 
1716,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Webb  baptized  Aaron 
Burr.  The  family  then  lived  at  what  was  called 
the  Upper  Meadow,  within  the  portion  of  the 
parish  known  as  Greenfield.  It  was  a  long  dis- 
tance which  many  of  the  worshippers  came  in 
their  attendance  upon  divine  service  here  in 
Fairfield. 

The  neighborhood  of  Pequonnock  had  re- 
ceived permission  from  the  General  Court  to 
hold  separate  services  in  the  year  1692,  although 
the  Strathfield  church  was  not  organized  until 
1695.  In  1711  Bankside  had  become  a  separate 
parish. 

A  little  later  Greenfield  petitioned  for  a 
church  organization.  The  request  puts  the 


78  AN   OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

matter  quaintly :  "  Not  only  ourselves  are  fre- 
quently obliged  to  be  absent  from  divine  wor- 
ship, but  our  poor  children  are  under  a  kind  of 
necessity  of  perishing  for  lack  of  vision." 

The  family  of  Aaron  Burr  was  one  of  those 
described  by  this  petition.  Nevertheless,  the 
child  and  youth  Aaron  seemed  to  develop  with 
great  promise,  and  the  matter  of  church  attend- 
ance and  gospel  influence  contributed  its  share 
to  his  noble,  consecrated  character. 

If  there  was  any  one  of  this  branch  of  the 
family  in  danger  of  perishing  for  lack  of  vision, 
it  was  assuredly  not  Aaron  Burr,  Sr.  The 
phrase  fittingly  describes  the  state  of  Aaron,  Jr., 
son  of  President  Burr. 

The  colonel  was  a  frequent  visitor  in  these 
parts,  and  he  makes  frequent  references  to 
"  Uncle  Thaddeus  Burr,"  who  had  matrimonial 
plans  for  the  man  who  was  to  take  such  prom- 
inent and  tragic  part  in  the  early  events  of  our 
national  life. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  later  in  life, 
when  Aaron  Burr,  Sr.,  was  settled  as  pastor  of 


THINGS  SACRED  AND  THINGS  SECULAR.    79 

a  Presbyterian  church  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  he  sold 
the  old  homestead  to  cousins  of  the  Bradley 
name.  One  of  these  cousins,  Joseph  Bradley, 
was  the  great-grandfather  of  the  Hon.  Joseph 
P.  Bradley,  late  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Webb  had  joined  with  nine  other  minis- 
ters of  Connecticut  and  founded  Yale  College. 
This  action  expressed  the  sentiment  of  his 
people  in  Fairfield.  They  wanted  an  institu- 
tion for  the  higher  education  of  youth,  and 
their  pastor  was  prepared  to  assist  in  the 
work. 

It  was  felt  that  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry  could  not  be  efficiently  performed 
without  such  help.  For  the  times  had  changed. 
The  religious  sentiment  was  not  as  strong  in 
this  and  other  communities  of  New  England 
as  it  had  been  during  the  first  century  of  set- 
tlement. An  element  that  seemed  more  or 
less  antagonistic  to  religion  had  crept  into  the 
colony. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  discussion   in  re- 


80     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

spect  to  citizenship  and  church  membership. 
Some  of  the  colonies  had  settled  it  one  way 
by  giving  the  ballot  only  to  members  of  the 
established  church.  Others  gave  it  to  men 
irrespective  of  the  fact  whether  they  were  full 
members  of  the  church  or  not.  Then  the 
Half-way  Covenant  was  introduced. 

The  chief  concern  in  respect  to  the  examina- 
tion of  Mr.  Webb,  when  he  was  installed  pas- 
tor of  the  church  in  Fairfield,  centred  in  his 
views  upon  this  practice.  Shall  the  children 
of  baptized  parents  not  members  of  the 
church  be  baptized? 

The  Half-way  Covenant  declared  that  bap- 
tized children,  when  they  reached  the  years  of 
discretion,  must  own  the  covenant  and  be- 
come formal  members  of  the  church,  although 
they  might  feel  that  they  were  not  prepared  to 
come  to  the  communion.  This  gave  them  a 
vote  in  the  church,  and  enabled  them  to  have 
their  children  baptized. 

This  was  the  view  of  Mr.  Webb  and  the 
Fairfield  church.  It  helps  us  to  understand 


THINGS   SACRED  AND   THINGS   SECULAR.    8l 

why  the  actual  membership  of  the  church  was 
so  small  through  the  first  two  centuries  of  the 
"  Prime  Ancient  Society." 

We  also  see  at  once  a  reason  for  the  deca- 
dence of  spirituality  in  the  church.  The  very 
strictness  and  sobriety  of  Puritanism  was  instru- 
mental, perhaps,  to  a  degree,  in  producing 
a  reaction  against  the  early  life  of  the  colo- 
nists. 

When  it  was  evident  that  some  such  re- 
action had  really  set  in,  and  the  moral  tone  of 
this  and  other  towns  was  lowered,  our  people 
tried  to  resist  these  and  similar  encroachments 
by  ecclesiastical  pressure  of  the  churches 
wrought  into  the  form  of  the  Consociation. 

It  was  in  1708  that  the  General  Court  directed 
the  churches  of  each  county  to  send  pastor 
and  delegate  to  the  county  seat,  and  there  con- 
sider the  best  system  of  church  order.  These 
assemblies  elected  representatives,  who  went 
to  Saybrook  and  decided  the  matter  in  debate 
for  the  whole  colony.  The  church  here  was 
not  represented  at  the  Saybrook  meeting,  but 
6 


82     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

it  loyally  accepted  the  platform  and  became 
one  of  its  most  earnest  champions. 

The  Fairfield  interpretation  of  the  Saybrook 
articles  was  strict  and  narrow.  The  church 
seemed  to  incline  toward  Presbyterianism. 

During  his  day  Mr.  Hobart  labored  faith- 
fully in  his  efforts  to  uphold  and  encourage  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  Consociation.  All 
that  could  be  said  in  favor  of  such  a  system 
seemed  to  be  said  by  him.  The  times  were 
such  that  it  was  necessary  every  effort  should 
be  put  forth  for  the  help  of  the  people  into  a 
better,  stronger  life. 

And  while  the  matter  of  Consociation  was 
a  prominent  question,  the  presence  of  Epis- 
copacy and  its  fair  prospects  of  growth  dis- 
turbed the  orthodox,  conservative  citizens. 
'  It  never  rains  but  it  pours,"  is  a  saying  that 
was  illustrated  by  prevailing  religious  condi- 
tions. Here  in  Fairfield  for  a  time  the  atmos- 
phere was  emphatically  religious — religious  in 
the  sense  that  moral,  ecclesiastical,  and  theolog- 
ical questions  and  activities  were  uppermost  in 


THINGS  SACRED  AND  THINGS  SECULAR.    83 

the  minds  of  the  leading  people.  Mr.  Hobart 
took  a  large  part  in  these  discussions,  publish- 
ing several  small  books  upon  one  or  other  of 
them. 

References  have  been  made  to  the  indifferent 
state  of  religion  during  this  period.  The  de- 
fection of  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Yale  College,  and 
his  ordination  to  the  Episcopal  ministry,  cre- 
ated not  a  little  feeling  and  not  a  little  interest 
in  this  community. 

A  petition  was  presented  to  the  Court  on 
May  14,  1725,  asking  that  an  assistant  might 
be  appointed  to  serve  with  Mr.  Webb  here  in 
the  parish.  As  the  petitioners  express  it, 
they  desired  "  that  their  sorrowful  and  sinking 
circumstances  might  be  relieved."  The  breth- 
ren that  inclined  to  the  Church  of  England 
felt  that  the  presence  of  that  venerable  organ- 
ization in  town  would  straighten  out  the  moral 
and  religious  tangle  of  affairs  both  public  and 
private. 

Mr.  Johnson,  rector  in  Stratford,  fluctuating 
between  that  town  and  this  in  his  ministry, 


84  AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

said  that  the  people  here  were  just  ripe  for  the 
transferrence  of  their  affections  to  the  Church 
of  England.  Nevertheless  when  Dr.  Laborie, 
a  French  physician  of  some  eminence,  moved  to 
Fairfield  in  1723,  he  found  it  was  no  easy  task 
to  organize  worship  according  to  that  way. 

He  came  to  this  country  as  a  teacher,  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  and 
he  had  a  hard  time  of  it.  He  bought  a  place 
of  Isaac  Jennings,  known  as  "the  stone  house 
on  the  rocks,"  which  he  says  in  a  letter  he  had 
"  destinated  to  the  service  of  the  Church  of 
England."  In  this  house  he  read  the  service, 
but  it  was  "  up-hill  work  "  for  a  time. 

He  tells  us  that  he  was  "  disturbed  by  Indians 
in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,"  and  when  he  came 
to  Fairfield  "  he  was  interrupted  (in  worship) 
immediately  by  one  of  the  magistrates."  This 
was  on  the  principle  of  tit-for-tat. 

The  Independent  in  the  mother  country 
must  conform  to  Episcopacy.  The  Episco- 
palian in  the  daughter  country  must  conform 
to  Independency.  But  these  brethren  in  Fair- 


THINGS   SACRED   AND  THINGS   SECULAR.    85 

field  "  stuck  to  their  knitting,"  to  use  a  homely 
phrase,  and  in  1724,  probably,  a  separate 
Episcopal  parish  was  organized. 

On  November  10,  1725,  the  Thanksgiving 
Day  of  that  year  for  Connecticut,  Mr.  Johnson 
opened  the  new  church  here,  and  it  was  called 
Trinity  Church. 

This  task  of  introducing  Episcopacy  was  a 
difficult  one,  as  the  town  records  show.  May 
ic,  1727,  a  petition  to  the  Court  at  Hartford 
says  that  ten  of  the  Fairfield  Episcopalians 
had  been  lately  imprisoned  for  non-pay- 
ment of  taxes  to  support  the  Congregational 
church. 

The  church  building  probably  stood  on  Mill 
Plain.  The  first  rector  or  missionary  was  Mr. 
Caner,  who  came  to  his  work  in  1727. 

Although  Mr.  Johnson  had  said  that  "the 
whole  town  would  embrace  the  Church  if  they 
had  a  good  minister  at  Fairfield,"  he  did  not 
prove  a  trustworthy  prophet.  Mr.  Caner  was 
a  good  minister — an  exceedingly  good  one. 
He  did  eminent  service  here.  After  many  years 


86     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

of  arduous  toil  he  felt  obliged  to  go  to  a  smaller 
and  less  exacting  parish. 

So  in  1747  he  removed  to  Boston  and  took 
charge  of  the  famous  King's  Chapel.  He 
passed  from  the  more  important  parish  of  Fair- 
field  to  the  less  exacting  parish  of  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  as  he  puts  it,  "not  so  much 
out  of  any  lucrative  views  as  out  of  regard  to 
the  weakness  of  his  constitution,  which  had 
become  unequal  to  the  duties  of  the  large 
mission  of  Fairfield." 

This  amuses  us,  and  flatters  our  pride  and 
self-esteem.  Boston  put  second  to  Fairfield! 
But  it  will  be  in  order  to  state,  by  way  of 
friendly  enlightenment,  that  Mr.  Caner's  parish 
was  rather  large,  compassing,  at  times,  Green- 
field, the  Southport  territory,  Green's  Farms, 
Pequonnock,  Westport,  Norwalk,  Stamford, 
Greenwich,  Redding,  Ridgefield,  Danbury, 
Weston,  Wilton,  New  Canaan,  and  other  like 
suburbs  of  Fairfield. 

Mr.  Caner  started  with  twelve  communicants 
and  some  forty  families,  in  1727,  as  he  testifies 


THINGS   SACRED  AND   THINGS   SECULAR.    87 

in  his  correspondence,  and  they,  he  says,  "  were 
mostly  of  the  poorer  sort."  A  great  change, 
you  see,  since  the  first  days.  That  is  the  last 
phrase  in  all  the  world  that  we  should  think  of 
using  to  describe  our  Episcopalian  neighbors 
to-day — "  mostly  of  the  poorer  sort."  All  the 
more  honor  to  Mr.  Caner  for  that  fact,  and  for 
his  frank  truthfulness  in  stating  it. 

One  feels  quite  sure  that  Oxford  University 
did  a  just  thing  when  she  made  this  earnest, 
faithful  worker  a  doctor  of  divinity;  and  we 
are  told  that  he  was  received  in  England  "with 
the  respect  which  he  so  well  deserved  as  the 
father  of  the  American  clergy." 

When  he  went  to  Boston  the  church  here 
had  grown  from  the  twelve  communicants  to 
two  hundred.  Sixty-eight  of  them  actually 
lived  in  this  village. 

Meanwhile  theological  controversy  had 
waxed  hot  in  the  colony,  and  Fairfield  was 
one  storm  centre.  One  is  led  to  suspect  that 
so  much  time  and  attention  were  given  to  the 
exterior  aspects  and  circumstances  of  religion 


88     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

that  the  inner  life  was  somewhat  neglected. 
While  Mr.  Caner  and  Mr.  Hobart  both  labored 
faithfully  for  the  cure  of  souls,  we  are  con- 
strained to  think  that  politics,  dogma,  law, 
business,  kept  the  people  of  this  old  New 
England  town  absorbed  to  such  extent  that 
spiritual  life  became  stagnant  and  uninterest- 
ing. 

Thirteen  years  after  starting  their  organ- 
ization here,  the  Trinity  people  built  a  new 
sanctuary  on  the  land  now  belonging  to  the 
Rowland  homestead. 

The  town  voted  on  July  27,  1738,  that 
"Liberty  to  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
England "  be  granted  "  to  erect  a  house  for 
public  worship  on  the  highway  near  Old  Field 
Gate."  The  structure  was  fifty-five  feet  in 
length,  thirty-five  feet  in  width,  and  twenty 
feet  in  height.  The  spire  shot  one  hundred 
feet  into  the  air.  A  bell  weighing  five  hun- 
dred pounds  was  put  into  the  belfry. 

Episcopalians  who  lived  within  a  mile  of  this 
edifice  were  granted  the  privilege  of  paying 


THINGS   SACRED   AND  THINGS  SECULAR.    89 

their  taxes  to  the  support  of  worship  in  this 
sanctuary.  Other  Episcopalians  were  for  a  long 
time  compelled  to  pay  their  taxes  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  Congregational  church. 

At  this  time  the  town  was  a  port  of  entry ; 
court  business  increased  ;  shops  and  stores 
multiplied ;  wealth,  culture,  fashion,  exerted 
wide  influence.  A  certain  leadership  was  won 
and  sustained  by  Fairfield.  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  Gold,  active  in  affairs,  had  finished  his 
honorable  life  record.  Prominent  men  of  the 
colonies  were  frequent  or  occasional  guests. 
Relations  with  neighbor  towns  and  distant 
cities  were  quite  intimate.  It  was  a  period  of 
signal  prosperity,  and  future  prospects  never 
seemed  brighter. 

The  French  war  interested  the  citizens,  for 
the  people  of  Fairfield  were  always  prepared 
to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  encounters  of 
this  kind.  It  was  Colonel  Andrew  Burr  who 
led  the  troops  of  Connecticut  Colony  when 
Louisburg  was  captured.  The  old  martial 
spirit  had  been  kept  alive  through  all  the 


90  AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

years.  Training  days  were  still  the  lively  and 
delightful  "outings"  for  the  male  population. 

Sillabub  continued  a  popular  drink.  One 
old  recipe  said :  "  Fill  your  Sillabub  Pot  with 
Syder,  and  good  store  of  Sugar  and  a  little 
Nutmeg,  stir  it  wel  together,  put  in  as  much 
thick  Cream  by  two  or  three  spoonfuls  at  a 
time,  as  hard  as  you  can  as  though  you  milke  it 
in,  then  stir  it  together  exceeding  softly  once 
about  and  let  it  stand  two  hours  at  least." 
We  cannot  say  positively  that  this  was  the 
recipe  followed  always,  but  it  was  a  favorite 
mixture  and  served  its  purposes  on  many  a 
training  day. 

When  the  call  came  for  men  to  serve 
against  Louisburg  and  Ticonderoga,  Fairfield 
responded  generously ;  and  when  the  suc- 
cessful campaigns  were  ended,  the  people  of 
the  town  again  settled  down  to  the  common 
business  of  the  times. 

Judge  Peter  Burr  had  passed  to  his  reward 
in  1724.  Teacher,  lawyer,  auditor,  deputy  in 
the  town,  speaker  of  the  House,  councillor 


THINGS  SACRED   AND  THINGS   SECULAR.    9! 

on  the  French  and  Indian  war,  judge  of  the 
County  Court,  chief  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  he  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
life  of  Fairfield  and  the  colony.  But  kindred 
spirits  followed  in  his  footsteps,  and  carried 
along  the  work  which  he  and  his  predecessors 
transmitted  to  them. 

It  seemed  a  peaceable  period  for  the  town 
now  that  Indians  and  Frenchmen  were  settled, 
and  there  was  little  thought  that  the  day  drew 
on  apace  when  the  great  conflict  of  the  age  was 
to  be  suddenly  projected  upon  them. 

Thaddeus  Burr  had  graduated  from  Yale  in 
1755,  and  Jonathan  Sturges  four  years  later. 
They  had  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law 
here  in  town.  When  the  great  questions  of 
taxation  were  broached  in  the  colonies,  excite- 
ment and  discussion  prevailed  in  this  provin- 
cial capital.  The  old  lawyers  and  the  young, 
business  men  and  farmers,  the  pastor  of  the 
Prime  Ancient  Society  and  the  keeper  of 
the  popular  inn — they  were  all  alive  with 
the  spirit  of  resistance. 


VII. 

War,  Love,  Captivity. 


VII. 

WAR,    LOVE,    CAPTIVITY. 

WE  have  reached  the  period  when  excite- 
ment ran  so  high  that  speech  upon  the  street 
was  occasionally  intemperate  and  vehement 
beyond  the  limits  set  by  the  law  of  the  land 
and  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  although  the 
conditions  were  such  that  strong  and  intense 
forms  of  speech  might  be  justified,  if  ever,  on 
the  grounds  of  passionate  loyalty  to  justice. 

There  is  recorded  the  following  illustration 
of  Church  oversight,  November  30,  1765.  The 
communication  is  addressed  by  Judge  Eben- 
ezer  Silliman  to  Rev.  Noah  Hobart,  pastor  of 
the  First  Church. 

"  Since  my  return  home  I  am  informed  that 
you  have  notified  the  communicants  that  the 


96     AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  to  be  ad- 
ministered the  next  Sabbath.  You,  I  suppose, 
are  not  altogether  unacquainted  with  the  late 
public  conduct  of  Job  Bartram,  one  of  the 
communicants  of  the  church,  which  not  only  is 
offensive  to  me  but  many  others  of  the  church  ; 
viz.,  in  calling  upon  God  to  damn  all  that 
had  any  hand  in  making  the  Act  of  Parliament 
called  the  Stamp  Act,  and  in  libelling  in  the 
most  ignominious  manner  some  in  the  most 
elevated  stations  in  civil  authority  ;  which  ap- 
pears to  me  to  be  plain  breaches  of  the  third 
and  fifth  commands  in  the  Moral  Law,  and 
inconsistent  with  the  Christian  character,  the 
consideration  whereof  I  recommend  to  you 
and  the  brethren  of  the  church  in  the  first  soci- 
ety in  Fairfield.  I  am  with  much  considera- 
tion, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  E.  SlLLIMAN." 

There  was  more  or  less  correspondence  upon 
this  matter  of  rash  and  impulsive  speech,  and 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  97 

the  trouble  was  finally  settled  to  the  common 
satisfaction  ;  Job  Bartram  working  off  his  pas- 
sion of  loyalty,  when  occasion  came,  in  bold  de- 
fence of  colonial  liberties  and  Fairfield  citizens. 

That  the  good  people  of  this  town  were  par- 
ticular in  this  matter  of  correct  speech,  is  evi- 
dent from  some  of  the  wills  on  record.  One 
pious  citizen,  in  devising  certain  property  near 
what  is  called  Devil's  Den,  does  not  venture  to 
spell  the  profane  word,  but  writes  a  capital  D, 
then  a  dash,  then  a  final  //  although  another 
case,  which  might  be  construed  to  the  contrary 
of  this  testimony,  is  also  found  in  a  certain  will, 
where  the  good  citizen  leaves  to  one  of  his 
heirs  his  "  damn." 

Speaking  of  wills,  some  of  their  peculiar 
phrases  are  recalled.  One  man  refers  to  him- 
self as  "  crazy  in  body  and  merry  in  mind." 
Another  man  begins  his  will  with  the  state- 
ment that  he  is  "  tender  in  disposition  and 
weakness  of  body,  but,  thanks  be  to  God,  of  a 
disposing  mind  and  memory  and  of  as  Compos 
Mentis  as  ever  I  was." 
7 


gS  AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

The  subject  of  wills  suggests  the  extrava- 
gance of  funeral  occasions.  To-day  we  even 
go  so  far  as  to  form  societies  for  the  purpose 
of  doing  honor  to  the  dead  in  better  taste  and 
at  less  expense.  But  there  is  something  to 
comfort  us  when  we  read  the  narrative  of  these 
occasions  a  century  or  two  ago. 

At  one  of  the  Winthrops'  funerals,  sixty 
rings  at  a  pound  apiece  were  given  away. 
There  were  also  scutcheons,  hatchments,  scarfs, 
gloves,  bell-tolling,  clothes,  and  other  necessary 
expenses,  amounting  to  three  thousand  dollars 
— a  third  of  the  estate. 

How  curious  this  sounds  :  "  It  being  artillery 
day  and  Mr.  Higginson  dead,  I  put  on  my 
mourning  rapier,  and  put  a  mourning  ribbon  in 
my  little  cane."  The  rings  had  such  mottoes 
as  these  :  "  Death  parts  united  hearts  ;"  "  Pre- 
pared be  to  follow  me."  How  cheerful  a  man 
must  feel  to  carry  several  articles  of  such  jew- 
elry about  with  him  ! 

The  liquor  consumed  on  these  occasions 
made  no  small  item  in  the  bill  of  expense. 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  99 

Like  ordinations,  it  was  a  time  when  the  good 
people  of  the  town  sought  relief  for  their  emo- 
tional nature  in  copious  draughts  of  their 
favorite  beverage.  No  wonder  that  such  ex- 
travagance and  such  customs  became  matters 
for  public  condemnation  and  discipline. 

But  a  subtle  change  was  passing  over  the 
face  of  common  life.  It  was  ferment  and  agi- 
tation all  through  the  century.  The  character 
of  discussion  had  been  theological  and  eccle- 
siastical rather  than  political,  although  politics 
was  an  element  in  all  the  ferment.  We  have 
slight  conception  of  the  intense,  bitter  feelings 
engendered  here  and  in  neighboring  places  on 
account  of  religious  differences.  And  yet  our 
own  observation  teaches  us  that  such  differ- 
ences are  apt  to  lead  to  all  sorts  of  conflict  and 
persecution.  But  the  time  had  now  come  when 
opinions  and  practices  in  respect  to  Christian 
faith  were  to  yield  precedence  unto  questions 
concerning  colonial  liberty  and  national  life. 

The  Rev.  Andrew  Eliot  had  been  invited  to 
settle  here  as  pastor  of  the  Prime  Ancient 


IOO          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

Society  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Hobart.  This 
promising  young  minister  was  the  son  of  the 
famous  man  of  the  same  name,  pastor  of  the 
New  North  Church  of  Boston. 

Dr.  Eliot  had  been  elected  president  of  Har- 
vard College,  although  he  declined  the  honor, 
choosing  to  remain  in  the  pastorate.  He  was 
the  popular  minister  of  his  city,  judging  from 
the  many  public  services  which  he  performed. 
He  kept  a  record  of  the  gloves  and  rings  which 
he  received  at  funerals.  During  his  pastorate 
he  made  a  list  of  two  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  forty  pairs  of  gloves. 

Doubtless,  young  Andrew  was  well  stocked 
with  gloves  when  he  came  to  Fairfield,  and,  if 
there  continued  any  need,  his  father  would 
supply  him,  although  there  were  ten  other 
children  to  draw  on  this  stock.  Dr.  Eliot  did 
not  allow  the  gloves  to  go  to  waste,  however ; 
for  he  tells  us  that  through  the  kindness  of 
Boston  milliners  he  sold  what  he  did  not  use, 
and  such  sale  brought  him  in  the  snug  sum  of 
nearly  seven  hundred  dollars. 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  IOI 

The  new  minister  brought  to  Fairfield  the 
fresh  life  of  Cambridge  and  Boston.  He  was 
full  to  overflowing  with  generous  and  noble 
sentiments ;  and  his  patriotism  found  congen- 
ial company  in  the  galaxy  of  educated  lawyers 
and  business  men  resident  in  Fairfield. 

It  was  only  a  few  months  after  his  coming 
that  these  people  sent  to  the  suffering  patriots 
of  Boston  a  present  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
bushels  of  grain.  The  letter  of  acknowledg- 
ment is  worth  remembering : 

"  Gentlemen :  The  testimony  which  the  pa- 
triotic citizens  of  Fairfield  have  given  of  their 
attendance  to  the  common  and  glorious  cause 
of  liberty  .  .  .  has  afforded  much  comfort  as 
well  as  seasonable  relief  to  their  friends  in 
Boston,  who  are  now  suffering  under  the  cruel 
rod  of  ministerial  Tyranny  and  Oppression. 
.  .  .  We  are  particularly  obliged  by  the  assur- 
ances which  you  give  us  that  you  are  not  in- 
sensible of  our  sufferings,  and  the  hope  that 
you  express  that  you  shall  yet  consider  your- 
selves bound  to  afford  us  such  succour  and  re- 


102          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND   TOWN. 

lief  as  your  circumstances  and  our  wants  may 
demand.  .  .  .  May  a  kind  Providence  bounti- 
fully reward  your  liberality  and  kindness,  and 
the  blessings  of  Him  that  was  ready  to  perish 
come  down  and  rest  on  the  heads  of  the  gen- 
erous inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Fairfield." 

The  patriotism  of  the  people  here  had  al- 
ready taken  a  tangible  form.  On  December 
29,  1774,  this  same  year,  "  at  a  legal  meeting  of 
the  inhabitants,"  the  action  of  the  recent  Con- 
tinental Congress  was  discussed.  It  was  ap- 
proved, and  the  town  took  the  opportunity 
"to  express  their  most  grateful  sense  of  the 
good  services  of  the  worthy  delegates  from  this 
colony  who  attended  said  Congress."  There 
follow  the  names  of  a  committee  to  act  in 
conformity  with  the  suggestions  made  by  the 
Continental  Congress. 

It  was  also  voted  expedient  to  call  a  county 
congress  to  consider  these  matters  of  state, 
and  it  was  voted  that  "  Col.  Gold  S.  Silliman, 
Jonathan  Sturges,  Andrew  Rowland,  Esq.,  Mr. 
Job  Bartram,  and  Thaddeus  Burr  be  a  com- 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITV.  103 

mittee  to  attend  at  such  time  and  place  as 
they  shall  appoint."  These  gentlemen  were 
also  constituted  a  committee  of  correspond- 
ence for  the  town. 

The  announcement  of  hostilities  between 
the  British  and  the  Continental  forces  came 
to  Fairfield  in  a  dramatic  way.  It  was  on  an 
April  morning. 

Gold  Selleck  Silliman  and  Jonathan  Stur- 
ges  had  come  over  to  the  house  of  Thad- 
deus  Burr  to  discuss  war  prospects.  They 
were  all  members  of  the  town  committee  of 
war. 

As  they  stood  upon  the  porch  of  the  great 
mansion  earnestly  engaged  in  conversation,  a 
horseman  dashed  down  the  street  and  came  to 
a  sudden  standstill  just  in  front  of  them.  He 
carried  a  sealed  packet,  which  he  hastily  thrust 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Silliman.  Breaking  the 
seal  and  glancing  at  the  contents,  more  or  less 
of  the  citizens  having  gathered  meanwhile, 
General  Silliman  read  aloud  the  following- 
letter  : 


IO4         AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

"  To  All  Friends  of  American  Liberty  :  Be  it 
known  that  this  morning  before  break  of  day  a 
brigade  consisting  of  about  one  thousand  or 
two  thousand  men  landed  at  Phipps's  farm, 
Cambridge,  and  marched  to  Lexington,  where 
they  found  a  company  of  our  colony  militia  in 
arms,  upon  whom  they  fired  without  provoca- 
tion, and  killed  six  men  and  wounded  four 
others.  By  an  express  from  Boston  we  find 
another  brigade  are  on  the  march  from  Boston, 
supposed  to  be  about  one  thousand.  The 
bearer,  Trail  Bissell,  is  charged  to  alarm  the 
country  quite  to  Connecticut,  and  all  persons 
are  desired  to  furnish  him  with  fresh  horses  as 
they  may  be  needed.  I  have  spoken  with  sev- 
eral who  have  seen  the  dead  and  the  wounded. 

"J.  PALMER, 
"  One  of  the  Committee  of  S'y." 

That  sealed  packet  sounded  a  mighty  bugle 
call.  It  did  not  take  long  for  the  news  to 
spread,  and  ere  it  was  the  close  of  day,  nearly 
one  hundred  members  of  the  train-band  set 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  10$ 

forth  on  a  march  to  Boston.  What  emotions 
swelled  within  their  breasts  as  they  made  their 
way  along  by  the  Green,  the  meeting-house, 
the  home  of  the  new  minister ! 

As  they  cross  Gould's  bridge  we  see  Colonel 
Abram  Gould  step  forth  to  cheer  them  ;  and 
as  he  stands  facing  the  marshes  this  earnest 
company  passes  on  to  share  the  conflict. 

These  were  lively  times.  It  was  quite  un- 
certain what  turn  events  might  take,  but  the 
feeling  and  purpose  was  common  among  our 
people  to  the  end  that  they  must  stand  by 
their  rights  and  resist  all  encroachments  upon 
their  liberties. 

There  was  a  small  party  in  opposition  that 
continued  in  the  town.  It  was  natural  that 
Mr.  Sayre,  the  Episcopal  minister,  and  the  com- 
pany of  royalists  that  gathered  about  him, 
should  show  little  sympathy  with  these  aggres- 
sive movements.  Politics  and  religion  were 
one  for  the  time  being,  since  the  Church  of 
England  must  necessarily  stand  for  the  author- 
ity of  the  mother  country. 


106          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

As  a  consequence,  there  was  considerable 
bitterness  manifest  toward  certain  individuals 
and  families  in  town  because  their  sympathies 
were  naturally  royalist  in  character.  In  one 
way  or  another  these  people  were  compelled 
to  suffer  humiliation.  Many  of  them  were 
finally  driven  from  the  town,  and  their  prop- 
erty confiscated.  Old  friendships  were  broken, 
and  family  ties  severed  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, but  this  was  the  inevitable  result  of  cir- 
cumstances. 

When  the  Articles  of  Association  formed 
by  the  Continental  Congress  were  presented 
to  Mr.  Sayre,  rector  of  Trinity,  he  refused  to 
sign  them.  Therefore  he  was  banished  from 
the  town.  After  seven  months  of  exile  he  was 
recalled,  and  permission  was  given  him  to  stay 
within  the  limits  of  four  miles,  and  later  within 
the  limits  of  the  county.  But  he  and  the  rest 
of  the  Episcopal  brethren  were  forbidden  the 
use  of  the  liturgy  in  service. 

Many  of  the  Church  of  England  parishes 
omitted  public  worship  during  this  period  of 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  IO/ 

prohibition,  but  Mr.  Sayre  continued  to  hold 
some  kind  of  public  worship  throughout  the 
whole  period.  The  reading  of  Scripture,  the 
singing  of  hymns,  repetition  of  Psalms  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  an  extempore  supplication, 
and  a  sermon,  these  did  quite  well  for  a  service, 
and  a  worshipper  might  have  thought  that  he 
had  gotten  into  the  place  where  the  Prime 
Ancient  Society  was  holding  service,  rather 
than  the  dissenting  brethren  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

A  phrase  which  denotes  the  purpose  of  these 
faithful  people  to  continue  their  worship  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances  leads  one  to 
think  that  there  might  have  been  a  certain 
cheerful  freedom  and  unhampered  expansive- 
ness  about  it.  We  read,  for  example,  that 
they  voted  "  to  carry  on  "  in  the  room  of  Mr. 
Shelton.  Did  we  give  a  present-day  meaning 
to  the  phrase,  we  might  look  for  something 
lively  and  festive  in  character.  There  are  sev- 
eral votes  of  this  kind.  Trinity  Church  "  car- 
ried on "  for  several  years  in  one  place  and 


108          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

another,  until  the  time  of  rebuilding  a  sanc- 
tuary came  to  them  and  they  were  once  more 
safely  housed  on  Mill  Plain. 

Meanwhile  people  lived  at  high  tension,  in 
perpetual  state  of  expectancy.  Soldiers  were 
drilled  in  Fairfield  and  sent  forth  under  various 
commands  to  answer  pressing  needs.  The 
mansion  of  Thaddeus  Burr  was  a  centre  of 
social  life  in  the  town,  and  many  were  the  so- 
ciety events  which  occurred  within  its  ample 
proportions.  The  Burrs  were  intimate  with 
several  Boston  families,  and  the  new  minister 
also  drew  his  friends  down  into  the  country 
for  various  visits. 

While  the  British  occupied  Boston,  several 
Bostonians  took  the  opportunity  to  see  their 
Fairfield  friends.  Among  them  were  Mrs. 
Thomas  Hancock,  aunt  of  John  Hancock,  and 
Miss  Dorothy  Quincy,  daughter  of  Edmund 
Quincy.  Miss  Quincy  was  engaged  to  Mr. 
John  Hancock,  and  they  wanted  to  get  mar- 
ried. But  the  times  were  troublous  :  Boston 
was  beleaguered.  A  bird  in  the  hand  is 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  109 

worth  two  in  the  bush.  And  the  report  came 
to  Mr.  Hancock  that  Aaron  Burr,  son  of  the  late 
president  of  Princeton  College,  cousin  of  Miss 
Quincy's  host  Thaddeus,  was  making  himself 
very  agreeable  to  his  fiancee.  This  attractive 
gentleman  was  intimate  with  Thaddeus  Burr. 

It  was  quite  natural  that  young  Aaron  should 
share  in  the  entertainment  of  the  Boston 
beauty.  Fortunately  for  President  Hancock, 
Aaron  Burr  left  Fairfield  the  summer  of  1775 
and  sought  renown  and  promotion  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Canada,  serving  under  Benedict 
Arnold  with  Henry  Dearborn  (later  the  General 
Dearborn  of  Chicago  fame).  The  Rev.  Samuel 
Spring,  father  of  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  of  New 
York,  was  chaplain  of  the  regiment,  but  accord- 
ing to  tradition  his  ministrations  did  not  keep 
young  Burr  altogether  straight. 

During  this  period  arrangements  for  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Hancock  and  Miss  Quincy  were 
made,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burr  entered  heartily 
into  all  the  plans.  When  September  came  the 
president  of  the  Continental  Congress  gathered 


1 10         AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

various  friends  about  him  and  left  Philadelphia 
for  Fairfield. 

The  bridegroom  was  one  of  the  wealthiest 
men  of  New  England.  His  station  was  exalted, 
and  the  approaching  marriage  excited  not  a 
little  interest. 

We  are  told  that  it  was  quite  an  imposing 
cavalcade  which  came  to  town  as  escort  to  the 
happy  man.  Those  were  the  days  when,  in 
spite  of  war,  not  a  little  pomp  and  circumstance 
might  be  commanded  in  case  of  necessity. 

It  must  have  been  an  interesting  sight. 
Probably  the  boys  and  the  girls,  and  perhaps 
some  of  the  grown  folks  in  the  town  walked  up 
and  down  the  streets  and  watched  closely  the 
assembling  company.  The  great  massive  coach 
with  liveried  driver  and  footman,  the  attendant 
cavaliers  with  gay  uniforms  and  high-spirited 
animals,  the  elegant  and  elaborate  costumes  of 
the  ladies,  the  mingling  of  old-time  civil  and 
military  display,  all  the  accompanying  excite- 
ment, activity,  social  cheer  in  liquid  abundance, 
and  good-fellowship  of  heart  and  hand — what 


WAR,    LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  Ill 

an  occasion  it  was,  and  how  we  should  like  to 
have  been  there ! 

But  it  was  a  day  all  too  brief  and  fleeting  for 
the  merry  onlookers.  The  old  church  record 
compresses  the  whole  thing  into  one  sentence: 

"  September  28,  1/75-  Married  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Thaddeus  Burr,  Esq.,  by  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Eliot,  the  Hon.  John  Hancock,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Continental  Congress,  to  Miss 
Dorothy  Quincy,  daughter  of  Edmund  Quincy, 
of  Boston." 

The  honeymoon  was  occasionally  interrupted 
by  the  cry  of  "  British."  A  price  had  been  put 
upon  the  head  of  Hancock,  and  he  thought  it 
expedient  to  keep  quiet.  Some  of  the  time 
their  meals  were  served  in  the  privacy  of  the 
chamber. 

We  are  told  that  one  day  when  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hancock  attempted  to  dine  in  state  with  the 
host  and  hostess,  the  dinner  was  hastily  aban- 
doned and  the  feast  was  lost  on  account  of  an 
alarm  and  supposed  pursuit  of  the  enemy. 
But  with  all  these  storm-clouds  shifting  across 


112          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

the  summer  sky  of  their  honeymoon,  we  may 
rest  assured  that  the  Hon.  John  and  Madame 
Dorothy  drank  deep  draughts  of  connubial  bliss, 
and  gave  grave  care  a  thoughtless  go-by  for 
the  time  being. 

Among  the  favorite  resorts  of  Fairfield  soci- 
ety at  this  time  was  the  Silliman  home  on 
Holland  Heights.  The  location  itself  was  such 
that  it  attracted  visitors. 

Fairfield  reposed  securely  to  the  right  of  the 
eminence,  and  offered  perpetual  suggestion  of 
prosperity  and  affluence.  To  the  left  was  the 
little  hamlet  which  the  years  would  transform 
into  the  busy,  energetic  city  of  Bridgeport. 
Grover's  Hill  was  like  an  advance  guard,  keep- 
ing constant  watch  upon  the  sea. 

"  A  situation  perfectly  rural,"  writes  Profes- 
sor Silliman,  "  on  elevated  ground  overlooking 
the  country  for  many  leagues  ;  having  before 
us  Long  Island  Sound,  a  beautiful  strait  per- 
haps twenty  miles  in  average  breadth,  a  strait 
often  adorned  by  the  white  canvas  of  sailing- 
vessels,  occasionally  fretted  by  winds  and 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  113 

storms  into  waves  which  adorned  the  blue 
bosom  of  the  deep  with  snowy  crests  and 
ridges — in  such  a  situation  we  had  only  to  open 
our  eyes  in  a  clear  atmosphere  to  be  charmed 
with  the  scenery  of  this  beautiful  world.  .  .  . 
And  with  it  were  associated  all  the  attractions 
of  the  farm,  of  the  forests  and  the  waters,  the 
beauty  and  melody  of  birds,  and  the  activity 
and  instinct  of  animals." 

This  was  the  home  of  General  Gold  Selleck 
Silliman,  a  leading  man  in  Fairfield  and  Con- 
necticut at  this  period.  He  was  prosecuting 
attorney  for  the  county  at  the  time  when  the 
Revolutionary  ferment  manifested  itself.  Be- 
coming interested  in  military  affairs,  he  was 
made  colonel  of  cavalry  in  the  local  militia  and 
took  part  in  several  battles. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  journal  kept  by  Mrs. 
Silliman  for  much  valuable  and  interesting 
information  concerning  the  events  of  her  day. 
The  piety  of  this  noble  woman  is  manifest  on 
many  pages. 

"  Who  among  the  human  race,"  she  writes  on 


114         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

one  occasion,  "  has  greater  reason  to  be  thank- 
ful than  I  have  this  day?  My  dear  husband 
has  been  at  home  and  made  me  a  short  visit ; 
but  although  I  thought  not  a  ball  had  touched 
his  clothes,  afterward  there  was  one  found  in 
his  coat  pocket,  the  coat  he  had  on  the  day  of 
the  battle  of  White  Plains.  I  took  his  coat  to 
mend  it  and  found  it.  He  supposes  it  was  a 
spent  ball,  and  as  his  coat  flew  open  it  dropped 
in.  The  ball  was  made  ragged  that  it  might 
not  be  easily  extracted  from  the  flesh  of  him 
who  was  so  unhappy  as  to  receive  it." 

General  Silliman  was  active  in  the  service  of 
the  colony  all  through  the  trying  days  of  organ- 
ization. A  devout  man,  deacon  in  the  parish 
church,  appointed  to  all  sorts  of  local  tasks, 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  legal  profession 
(it  is  pleasant  to  note  that  many  of  the  officers 
and  leaders  in  the  Prime  Ancient  Society  have 
been  eminent  and  honored  members  of  the  bar), 
General  Silliman  would  naturally  be  a  marked 
man  in  the  estimation  of  the  British. 

Fairfield  itself  was  a  conspicuous  object  for 


WAR,   LOVE,  CAPTIVITY.  115 

the  hatred  of  the  enemy.  The  town  stood 
seventh  among  the  towns  of  Connecticut  in 
taxable  wealth.  So  far  as  social  prestige,  legal 
reputation,  intellectual  vitality,  ecclesiastical 
fame,  were  concerned,  it  stood  among  the  first 
towns  of  New  England.  The  part  which  it 
took  in  the  struggle  for  independence  was  con- 
spicuous. 

It  had  been  voted  on  October  31,  1776, "  that 
there  be  a  guard  of  thirty-two  men  to  guard 
the  Town  nightly,  and  every  night  to  be  set  in 
the  following  manner :  Four  to  patrol  from 
Saugatuck  River  to  Cable's  Mill,  and  four  to 
patrol  from  said  Mill  to  Sasco  River,  and  four 
from  Sasco  River  to  Mill  River,  and  four  from 
Mill  River  to  Pine  Creek,  and  six  to  patrol 
from  Pine  Creek  to  Ash  House  Creek,  and  six 
to  patrol  in  the  town  streets,  and  four  at  Strath- 
field.  Voted,  that  each  of  the  guard  have  three 
shillings  a  night  for  their  service.  Voted,  the 
guard  be  taken  out  of  the  Prime  Society, 
Green's  Farms,  Greenfield,  and  Strathfield." 
In  1778  a  guard  of  forty-two  men  was  enlisted. 


Il6          AN   OLD    NEW    ENGLAND   TOWN. 

The  alarm  post  here  in  town  was  the  rallying 
place  of  the  militia.  The  alarm  list  and  the 
muster  roll  had  long  been  prepared. 

Although  war  was  in  the  air,  and  on  the  soil 
for  that  matter,  yet  there  was  not  a  little  busi- 
ness that  demanded  attention  apart  from  the 
conflict  with  British  authority.  At  one  time  it 
was  voted  that  "  Liberty  for  all  be  granted, 
and  every  person  or  persons  to  turn  any  flock 
or  flocks  of  sheep  on  the  highways  within  this 
town  with  a  keeper  of  more  than  fifty  to  eat 
up  and  consume  the  herbage  in  and  upon  said 
highway." 

It  was  this  custom  of  appointing  keepers  to 
look  after  the  flocks,  to  which  the  merchant 
Mr.  Jonathan  Sturges  refers,  in  his  address 
when  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 
honored  him  with  a  complimentary  dinner. 

"  One  of  the  first  lessons  I  received  was  when 
eleven  years  of  age,"  he  remarked.  "  My  grand- 
father had  collected  a  fine  flock  of  merino 
sheep."  (The  grandfather  was  Judge  Jonathan 
Sturges,  whose  name  was  signed  to  the  letter 


WAR,    LOVE,    CAPTIVITY.  1 1/ 

sent  to  Boston  in  1776.)  "  I  was  a  shepherd  boy. 
...  A  boy  who  was  more  fond  of  his  books 
than  of  the  sheep  was  sent  with  me,  but  left 
the  work  to  me  while  he  lay  in  the  shade  and 
read  his  books.  I  finally  complained  to  the 
old  gentleman.  I  shall  never  forget  his  benig- 
nant smile  as  he  replied  :  '  Never  mind ;  if  you 
watch  the  sheep,  you  will  have  the  sheep.' " 
This  incident  binds  us  to  the  life  which  we  are 
etching,  the  life  of  one  hundred  years  and 
more  ago. 

The  time  having  come  for  soldier  service,  it 
was  voted  by  the  town  that  "  the  proportion 
of  soldiers  to  be  furnished  in  this  Town  for 
the  Continental  service  be  made  out  according 
to  the  Alarm  List  and  Muster  Roll  of  said 
Society." 

The  Council  of  Safety  of  Connecticut  voted, 
on  March  25,  1777,  "  to  deliver  to  Selectmen  of 
Fairfield  one  six-pound  and  one  three-pound 
cannon."  It  seems  a  limited  equipment,  does 
it  not  ?  The  whole  matter  of  defence  was 
necessarily  put  upon  a  meagre  footing. 


Il8          AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

We  know  that  the  British  felt  they  would 
soon  settle  the  rebellious  rabble,  and  teach  us 
a  lesson  we  never  could  forget.  And  such 
had  been  the  result  were  it  not  that  the  Al- 
mighty had  larger  purposes  in  mind. 

In  1779  General  Silliman  was  stationed  to 
guard  the  coast  in  the  vicinity  of  Fairfield. 
Appeals  had  been  made  for  help  of  this  kind 
since  the  exposed  position  of  the  town  signi- 
fied grave  peril.  The  command  of  General 
Silliman  extended  to  the  various  outposts  in 
the  county,  but  he  made  his  headquarters  for 
the  time  being  on  Holland  Heights. 

On  May  I,  General  Clinton,  commanding 
officer  at  New  York,  sent  a  whaleboat  and 
eight  men  to  Fairfield  in  order  to  capture 
General  Silliman.  Mrs.  Silliman,  in  her  jour- 
nal, continues :  "  At  a  midnight  hour,  when  we 
were  all  asleep,  the  house  was  attacked.  I 
was  awakened  by  his  calling  out,  '  Who's 
there?' 

"At  that  instant  there  was  a  banging  at 
both  doors,  they  intending  to  break  them  down 


WAR,   LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  119 

or  burst  them  open ;  and  this  was  done  with 
great  stones  as  big  as  they  could  lift.  My 
dear  companion  then  sprang  up,  caught  his 
gun,  and  ran  to  the  front  of  the  house,  and,  as 
the  moon  shone,  saw  them  through  the  win- 
dow, and  attempted  to  fire ;  but  his  gun  only 
flashed  in  the  pan  and  missed  fire. 

"At  that  instant  they  burst  in  a  window,  sash 
and  all,  jumped  in  and  seized  him,  and  said  he 
was  their  prisoner  and  he  must  go  with  them. 
He  asked  if  he  might  dress  himself.  They 
said  '  yes,'  if  he  would  be  quick. 

"All  this  time  I  lay  quaking.  They  followed 
him  into  the  bedroom  where  I  and  my  dear 
little  boy  were.  With  their  guns  and  bayo- 
nets fixed,  their  appearance  was  dreadful.  It 
was  then  their  prisoner  addressed  them  in  mild 
terms  and  begged  them  to  leave  the  room, 
and  told  them  their  being  there  would  frighten 
his  wife.  They  then  withdrew  for  a  minute  or 
two,  and  then  returned,  when  he  asked  them 
out  again.  They  hurrying  him,  he  went  out 
and  shut  the  door.  After  that  I  heard  them 


I2O         AN  OLD   NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

breaking  the  windows,  which  they  wantonly 
did  with  the  breeches  of  their  guns." 

These  soldiers  then  asked  him  for  money, 
private  papers,  and  other  things.  Mrs.  Silli- 
man  writes :  "  He  told  them  mildly  he  hoped 
he  was  in  the  hands  of  gentlemen,  and  that  it 
was  beneath  them  to  plunder."  This  seems 
to  have  had  an  effect,  although  the  men 
took  a  few  things  that  came  conveniently  to 
hand.  The  communion  silver,  which  is  still 
used  by  the  church,  was  deftly  concealed,  as 
were  also  certain  valuable  papers. 

After  the  soldiers  had  gone,  having  taken 
both  the  general  and  his  elder  son,  an  alarm 
was  given.  But  it  availed  naught.  "  I  heard 
nothing  from  them  in  three  weeks,"  says  Mrs. 
Silliman.  "  My  next  step  was  to  look  for  an 
asylum  in  case  of  an  invasion  of  the  town," 
she  continues.  The  asylum  was  found  with  a 
friend  in  North  Stratford.  Here,  some  three 
months  later,  her  son  Benjamin,  the  famous 
and  revered  professor  of  natural  science,  was 
born. 


WAR,    LOVE,   CAPTIVITY.  121 

General  Silliman  and  his  son  were  trans- 
ported to  Long  Island  and  afterwards  to  New 
York.  It  was  a  year  before  the  exchange  of 
prisoners  was  made  which  set  him  free  to  re- 
turn unto  his  station.  Colonel  Abram  Gold, 
the  faithful  and  splendid  soldier,  had  yielded 
his  life  two  years  previous  to  this  period.  The 
battle-ground  of  Ridgefield  was  stained  with 
his  blood,  although  his  body  had  been  brought 
in  upright  position  upon  his  horse  all  the  way 
from  the  scene  of  death  to  his  beloved  town. 

One  noble  patriot  after  another  had  given 
himself  and  his  property  to  the  cause.  General 
Abel,  whose  home  preceded  the  Benson  house, 
was  serving  the  people  with  distinction.  A 
full  quota  of  Fairfield  men  was  distributed 
through  the  various  divisions  of  troops,  so  that 
Fairfield  was  placed  in  a  critical  position.  The 
people  besought  the  governor  and  council  to 
send  an  armed  vessel  to  assist  in  guarding  the 
coast.  But  the  vessel  was  not  forthcoming, 
and  the  town  was  compelled  to  shift  for  itself. 


VIII. 

The  Burning  of  FairfielcL 


VIII. 

THE  BURNING   OF  FAIRFIELD. 

GENERAL  TRYON  had  been  a  visitor  here  in 
Fairfield  on  several  occasions,  and  a  courteous 
hospitality  made  him  welcome.  But  when  he 
began  warlike  inroads  among  the  shore  towns, 
bitter  feeling  against  him  became  widespread. 
Several  thriving  villages  suffered  under  his  pes- 
tilential touch.  Fear  possessed  the  people  of 
this  place  that  he  meant  ill  to  them. 

When  it  became  known  that  a  small  fleet 
of  hostile  ships  was  making  its  way  along  the 
Sound,  the  townsmen  felt  that  the  long-dreaded 
day  was  upon  them.  It  is  not  difficult  for  us 
to  picture  the  scene. 

Fairfield  was  now  one  hundred  and  forty 
years  old.  Evidences  of  refinement  and  pros- 
perity were  scattered  all  through  the  place. 


126          AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

The  streets  were  not  as  broad  as  they  are  to- 
day ;  but  trees  shaded  the  walks,  commodious 
houses  were  distributed  through  ample  yards, 
the  Green  was  a  pleasant  spot  framed  by  public 
and  private  buildings,  trade  flourished  in  the 
town,  and  the  leaders  of  thought,  enterprise, 
politics,  lived  in  hospitable  way,  entertaining 
many  guests. 

On  Sunday,  July  4th,  when  Mr.  Eliot  preached 
his  last  sermon  in  the  prim,  angular,  stately 
meeting-house,  the  calm  and  beauty  of  the  day 
came  like  the  suggestive  quiet  which  precedes 
the  bursting  of  the  tempest.  It  was  not  alone 
that  Fairfield  was  unprotected  at  this  time ; 
but  it  was  also  that  many  of  her  soldiers  were 
absent  in  the  service.  To  be  sure,  the  coast 
guard  was  doing  its  duty,  and  there  was  a  can- 
non or  two  mounted  on  Grover's  Hill.  But 
what  were  such  resources  in  face  of  two  large 
men-of-war,  forty-eight  row  galleys,  tenders,  and 
transports?  This  was  the  fleet  coming  along 
the  shore  toward  the  patriotic  town. 

It  was  Sunday  night  when  the  British  passed 


THE  BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  I2/ 

Fairfield.  Monday  and  Tuesday  they  carried 
on  their  business  of  desolation  at  New  Haven. 
The  people  here  were  alert  and  watchful.  It 
was  a  nervous,  intense  life  which  throbbed 
along  these  familiar  streets  that  week.  Citizens 
did  not  want  to  leave  their  homes.  There  was 
a  lingering  hope  that  the  place  might  be  spared. 
And  yet  their  better  judgment  told  them  that 
Fairfield  was  condemned  to  the  ravishment  of 
the  foe. 

Had  not  the  town  done  everything  in  her 
power  to  advance  the  interests  of  indepen- 
dence ?  Money,  supplies,  soldiers,  had  they  not 
all  been  given  with  unstinted  generosity?  Did 
not  generals,  judges,  statesmen,  leaders,  make 
Fairfield  their  home,  and  gather  about  them  the 
chief  rebels  and  conspirators  against  the  au- 
thority of  the  mother  country?  It  was  a  very 
hotbed  of  resistance,  machination,  patriotism, 
liberty.  It  was  not  a  fear  of  wolves,  not  a  dread 
of  witches,  not  a  terror  of  Indians,  that  pos- 
sessed citizens  ;  but  something  quite  as  real  and 
awful.  The  thought  that  their  streets  might 


128         AN   OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

be  invaded  by  bitter  enemies,  their  families  in- 
sulted and  harassed  by  foreign  hirelings,  their 
homes  plundered  and  destroyed  by  heartless 
and  cruel  men — this  it  was  which  caused  them 
to  pass  sleepless  nights  and  restless  days  while 
awaiting  helplessly  the  pleasure  of  their  foe. 

The  British  sailed  from  New  Haven  on  July 
6th.  All  day  long,  men,  women,  and  children 
had  walked  the  town,  tarried  down  by  the 
shore,  climbed  the  places  where  better  views  of 
the  Sound  might  be  obtained,  spent  the  hot, 
anxious  hours  in  a  fever  of  alternate  hope 
and  despair.  The  few  soldiers  that  gathered 
for  the  defence  of  the  place  were  scattered 
along  the  stretch  of  territory  or  massed  in  the 
fort  on  Grover's  Hill.  This  latter  place  had  a 
force  of  twenty-three  men  under  command  of 
Lieutenant  Isaac  Jarvis. 

The  night  of  the  6th  was  spent  in  making 
such  further  preparations  as  were  necessary  and 
possible.  The  very  children  found  it  hard  to 
get  sleep,  for  they  had  become  infected  with  the 
consuming  patriotism  of  their  parents. 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  129 

The  early  morning  came,  and  people  began 
to  breathe  with  that  freedom  which  follows  the 
darkness  and  suspense  of  the  night.  Suddenly 
the  boom  of  a  cannon  carried  its  startling  mes- 
sage to  the  worn,  brave  watchers.  It  was  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  /th.  The  shot 
had  been  fired  at  the  British  fleet,  which  just 
came  into  sight.  It  told  the  foe  that  we  were 
not  a  defenceless  community.  For  a  time  it 
appeared  that  this  bold,  rash  shot  might  have 
changed  the  plan  of  the  enemy,  for  they  did 
not  stop.  Perhaps  Fairfield  was  to  escape,  after 
all.  At  seven  o'clock  the  fleet  was  moving 
towards  New  York.  And  then  a  dense  fog 
settled  down  upon  the  scene. 

Thus  ends  act  the  first  in  this  drama. 

Two  or  three  hours  later  the  fog  lifted.  The 
fleet  was  close  to  shore.  Little  Sam  Rowland 
was  watching  the  course  of  events  from  the 
spire  of  Trinity  Church  (which  stood  on  land 
now  belonging  to  the  Rowland  homestead). 
When  it  became  evident  that  the  enemy  meant 
assault,  he  hastily  descended  from  his  lofty 
9 


130         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

perch,  jumped  astride  the  old  white  mare,  ran 
along  the  main  street,  turned  the  corner  by  the 
meeting-house,  passed  the  home  of  Mr.  Isaac 
Jennings,  and  concealed  himself  in  the  woods, 
where  he  kept  an  eye  upon  the  struggle  and 
havoc  for  many  hours,  returning  at  last  to  his 
home,  which  had  been  spared  from  the  flames 
on  account  of  the  tact  and  bravery  of  his 
mother,  Elizabeth  Rowland,  the  daughter  of 
Governor  Fitch. 

"  The  boats  being  not  sufficient  for  the  whole 
of  the  first  division,"  says  General  Tryon  in  his 
report  to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  "  I  landed  only 
with  the  flank  companies  of  the  Guards,  one 
company  of  the  Landgrave's,  and  the  King's 
American  Regiment,  with  two  field-pieces, 
east  of  the  village  and  southwest  of  the  Black 
Rock  battery  which  commands  the  harbor. 
We  pursued  our  march  (under  a  cannonade 
without  effect)  towards  the  village,  but  in  our 
approach  received  a  smart  fire  of  musketry. 
The  rebels  fled  before  the  rapid  advance  of  the 
Guards,  and  left  us  in  possession  of  it,  and  of 


rlwlturavure  Rinjller  Co 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  131 

the  heights  in  the  west,  until  General  Garth, 
who  landed  two  miles  in  the  south,  joined  us 
with  the  remainder  of  the  troops,  in  the  even- 
ing." 

The  landing  of  the  enemy  was  therefore 
made  in  two  divisions,  according  to  the  official 
documents  preserved  in  the  war  office  of  the 
Government.  It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon before  the  troops  landed.  The  division 
under  Garth  came  by  way  of  Sasco  Hill.  The 
division  under  Tryon  came  through  Beach  Lane 
and  made  their  way  to  the  Green. 

They  were  exposed  to  the  cannon  from 
Grover's  Hill ;  Samuel  Squiers,  Israel  Chapman, 
and  Aaron  Turney  manning  the  small  battery. 
As  they  drew  nigh  the  Green,  such  militia  and 
recruits  as  could  be  gathered  made  a  stand 
against  the  enemy's  approach,  from  the  vantage 
point  of  the  Court  House.  One  field-piece  did 
excellent  service.  It  threw  the  foe  into  con- 
siderable disorder,  and  obstructed  the  advance 
for  a  brief  time.  But  it  was  simply  a  tempo- 
rary delay.  The  citizens  felt  all  the  time  that 


132          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

the  British  had  them  at  their  mercy  and  could 
do  with  them  much  as  they  pleased. 

Mrs.  Silliman  heard  the  premonitory  shots 
as  she  watched  the  action  of  the  fleet  from  her 
view  point  on  Holland  Heights.  She  saw  the 
enemy  disembark,  and  she  well  knew  that  it 
meant  common  desolation.  The  general  was 
still  held  a  prisoner  in  New  York. 

"  From  the  roof  of  our  house,"  she  writes, 
"  we  saw  the  enemy  land,  and  I  thought  best  to 
leave  my  habitation,  having  before  made  prep- 
arations for  ordering  up  the  team  and  loading 
it  with  some  of  our  valuable  effects.  By  this 
time  the  cannon  began  to  roar,  which  pleased 
Selleck  [the  little  boy],  and  he  would  mimic 
them,  saying,  '  Bang,  bang ! '  but  they  were 
doleful  sounds  in  our  ears.  The  firing  was 
heavier  as  we  went  on." 

The  curtain  falls  upon  the  second  act. 

Late  in  life  Professor  Silliman,  referring  to 
the  severe  experience  of  his  mother  at  this 
time,  wrote :  "  My  mother's  cheerful  courage 
contributed  to  sustain  her." 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  133 

In  her  journal  Mrs.  Silliman,  continuing  her 
account,  exclaims :  "  Oh  the  horrors  of  that 
dreadful  night !  At  the  distance  of  seven  miles 
we  could  see  the  light  of  the  devouring  flames 
by  which  the  town  was  laid  in  ashes.  It  was  a 
sleepless  night  of  doubtful  expectations.  I  re- 
turned to  visit  our  house  " — this  was  after  the 
withdrawal  of  the  enemy — "  and  found  it  full 
of  distressed  people  whose  houses  had  been 
burned,  and  our  friend  Captain  Bartram  lay 
there  a  wounded  man." 

Meanwhile  many  of  the  inhabitants  were 
doing  just  as  Mrs.  Silliman  did,  hastening  back 
upon  the  hills  and  into  the  remote  districts  in 
order  to  find  a  place  of  security.  It  was  infi- 
nitely sad  and  distressing  to  leave  home  and 
the  beautiful  old  town.  Never  did  Fairfield 
seem  more  precious  and  enchanting  than  on 
the  /th  of  July,  1779.  And  there  were  many 
places  where  comfort,  elegance,  refinement, 
opulence,  were  manifest. 

Scarcely  a  thing  could  be  removed.  The 
silver  might  be  thrown  into  the  well.  Grain- 


134         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

fields  were  luxuriant  and  convenient.  Odd 
pieces  of  choice  furniture,  and  occasional  heir- 
looms of  value,  were  cast  into  these  secretive 
patches.  A  few  treasures  were  carried  by 
the  women  and  children  in  their  flight.  But 
the  great  mass  of  household  stuffs  and 
family  possessions  was  left  in  the  deserted 
houses. 

There  were  a  few  women  that  braved  the  foe 
and  remained  to  protect  their  property ;  but 
they  were  cruelly  treated,  and  barely  escaped 
the  most  frightful  abuses.  Andrew  Eliot,  in  a 
letter  to  his  brother,  gives  a  vivid  account  of 
the  events.  "The  Hessians  were  first  let  loose 
for  rapine  and  plunder.  They  entered  houses, 
attacked  the  person  of  Whigs  and  Tories  in- 
discriminately ;  breaking  open  desks,  trunks, 
closets,  and  taking  away  everything  of  value. 
They  robbed  women  of  their  buckles,  rings, 
bonnets,  aprons,  and  handkerchiefs.  .  .  .  Look- 
ing-glasses, china,  and  all  kinds  of  furniture 
were  soon  dashed  to  pieces.  Another  party 
that  came  on  were  the  American  refugees, 


THE  BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  135 

who,  in  revenge  for  their  confiscated  estates, 
carried  on  the  same  direful  business." 

Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  in  his  "  Travels,"  tells 
us  how  Mrs.  Thaddeus  Burr  (Mr.  Burr  was 
high  sheriff  of  the  county  at  this  time)  tried 
to  save  her  house.  She  "  probably  had  never 
known  what  it  was  to  be  treated  with  dis- 
respect, or  even  with  inattention.  She  made 
a  personal  application  to  Governor  Tryon,  in 
terms  which,  from  a  lady  of  her  respectabil- 
ity, could  hardly  have  failed  of  a  satisfactory 
answer  from  any  person  who  claimed  the  title 
of  gentleman.  The  answer  which  she  received 
was,  however,  rude  and  brutal,  and  spoke  the 
want  not  only  of  politeness  and  humanity, 
but  even  of  vulgar  civility.  .  .  .  An  attempt 
was  made  in  the  meantime  by  some  of  the 
soldiery  to  rob  her  of  a  valuable  watch,  with 
rich  furniture ;  for  Governor  Tryon  refused  to 
protect  her,  as  well  as  to  preserve  the  house. 
The  watch  had  been  already  conveyed  out  of 
their  reach." 

Thus  ends  the  third  act  of  the  drama. 


136         AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

The  fourth  comes  on  apace.  The  town  had 
been  condemned.  The  first  house  fired  was 
that  of  Isaac  Jennings.  Mr.  Sayre,  the  Church 
of  England  minister,  had  done  what  he  could 
to  prevent  the  conflagration,  but  it  was  all  in 
vain.  The  promise  that  his  own  home,  the 
house  of  Andrew  Eliot,  and  some  other  places 
might  be  saved  had  been  wrung  from  the  de- 
stroying Tryon  ;  but  the  promise  was  broken. 

Soon  the  home  of  General  Abel  was  in 
flames.  Then  fire  was  seen  in  one  and  another 
place  along  the  main  street.  And  now  the 
night  settled  down  upon  the  doomed  town. 

What  words  can  paint  the  sombre,  lurid, 
frightful  scene?  Intermittent  sounds  of  guns; 
loud  and  profane  shouting  of  heartless  men ; 
occasional  shrieks  of  unprotected  women;  bois- 
terous revelling  of  plunderers  fresh  from  the 
cider  barrel  and  the  wine  cellar ;  crash  of  fall- 
ing timbers  and  riot  of  angry  flames  as  one 
after  another  structure  is  caught  and  held  by 
the  contagion  of  fire ;  men  separated  from 
wives  and  children ;  women  driven  forth  into 


THE   BURNING  OF' FAIRFIELD.  137 

the  gloom  and  horror  of  the  surrounding  hills 
and  woods  ;  children  searching  for  parents,  and 
wild  with  fear  and  terror ;  distress,  suffering, 
hunger,  sleeplessness,  anxiety,  sickness,  misery, 
on  every  side. 

It  was  while  this  tumult  raged  through  Fair- 
field  that  a  storm  added  its  sublime  contribu- 
tion to  the  general  woe. 

"  The  sky  was  speedily  hung  with  the  deep- 
est darkness,  wherever  the  clouds  were  not 
tinged  by  the  melancholy  lustre  of  the  flames." 
The  words  of  President  Dwight  are  quoted. 
"At  intervals,  the  lightnings  blazed  with  a 
livid  and  terrible  splendor.  The  thunder  rolled 
above.  Beneath  the  roaring  of  the  fires  filled 
up  the  intervals  with  a  deep  and  hollow  sound, 
which  seemed  to  be  the  protracted  murmur  of 
the  thunder,  reverberated  from  one  end  of  the 
heaven  to  the  other.  Add  to  this  convulsion 
of  the  elements,  and  these  dreadful  effects  of 
vindictive  and  wanton  devastation,  the  trem- 
bling of  the  earth,  the  sharp  sound  of  mus- 
ketry occasionally  discharged,  the  groans  here 


138          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND   TOWN. 

and  there  of  the  wounded  and  dying,  and  the 
shouts  of  triumph  ;  then  place  before  your 
eyes  crowds  of  the  miserable  sufferers,  mingled 
with  bodies  of  the  militia,  from  the  neighbor- 
ing hills  taking  a  farewell  prospect  of  their 
property  and  their  dwellings,  their  happiness 
and  their  hopes,  and  you  will  form  a  just  but 
imperfect  picture  of  the  burning  of  Fair- 
field." 

Such  was  the  night.  "At  sunrise,"  says  Mr. 
Eliot,  "  some  considerable  part  of  the  town 
was  standing,  but  in  about  two  hours  the 
flames  became  general.  .  .  .  All  the  town 
from  the  bridge  by  Colonel  Gould's  to  the  Mill 
River,  a  few  houses  excepted,  was  a  heap  of 
ruins."  The  British  withdrew  to  their  ships 
about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Thus  ends  the  fourth  act  of  the  drama. 

Standing  on  the  spot  and  looking  down  upon 
the  desolation,  Colonel  Humphrey  wrote  in 
1779  his  elegy  on  the  "  Burning  of  Fairfield  "  : 

"  Ye  smoking  ruins,  marks  of  hostile  ire, 

Ye  ashes  warm,  which  drink  the  tears  that  flow, 


THE  BURNING  OF   FAIRFIELD.  139 

Ye  desolated  plains,  my  voice  inspire, 

And  give  soft  music  to  the  song  of  woe. 
How  pleasant,  Fairfield,  on  the  enraptured  sight 

Rose  thy  tall  spires  and  ope'd  thy  social  halls  ! 
How  oft  my  bosom  beat  with  pure  delight 

At  yonder  spot  where  stand  thy  darkened  walls  I 
But  there  the  sound  of  mirth  resounds  no  more  ; 

A  silent  sadness  through  the  streets  prevails. 
The  distant  main  alone  is  heard  to  roar, 

And  hollow  chimneys  hum  with  sudden  gales, 
Save  where  scorched  elms  th'  untimely  foliage  shed, 

Which  rustling  hovers  round  the  faded  green  ; 
Save  where  at  twilight  mourners  frequent  tread, 

Mid  recent  graves,  o'er  desolation's  scene. 


'  Tryon,  behold  thy  sanguine  flames  aspire, 

Clouds  tinged  with  dyes  intolerably  bright. 
Behold  well  pleased  the  village  wrapped  in  fire  ; 

Let  one  wide  ruin  glut  thy  ravished  sight. 
Ere  fades  the  grateful  scene,  indulge  thine  eye  ; 

See  age  and  sickness,  tremulously  slow, 
Creep  from  the  flames ;  see  babes  in  torture  die, 

And  mothers  swoon  in  agonies  of  woe. 
Go,  gaze  enraptured  with  the  mother's  tear, 

The  infant's  terror,  and  the  captive's  pain, 


I4O          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

Where  no  bold  bands  can  check  thy  curst  career ; 

Mix  fire  with  blood  on  each  unguarded  plain. 
These  be  thy  triumphs  ;  this  thy  boasted  fame. 

Daughters  of  memory  raise  the  deathless  song. 
Repeat  through  endless  years  his  hated  name, 

Embalm  hiscrimes.and  teach  the  world  ourwrong." 

A  brief  account  of  the  "Burning"  is  given 
in  the  Hartford  Courant  of  the  following 
week.  It  speaks  of  a  district  two  miles  in  ex- 
tent wasted,  only  sixteen  houses  in  the  whole 
section  left  standing,  the  most  of  these  having 
been  set  on  fire  and  then  extinguished. 

One  incident  is  related  to  illustrate  the  bar- 
barity of  the  foe.  "  A  Fairfield  man  in  arms 
with  us,"  says  the  correspondent,  "who  two 
years  ago  deserted  from  the  king's  troops, 
after  being  wounded,  surrendered  and  begged 
for  quarter,  was  after  this  cruelly  pierced  and 
tortured  with  bayonets,  still  keeping  life  in 
him,  then  wrapped  in  a  linen  sheet  wet  writh 
'  oil,'  which  was  barbarously  set  on  fire,  and 
thus  the  unhappy  victim  perished  in  flames." 

General   Tryon   briefly  dismisses  the  whole 


THE  BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  141 

subject  in  these  words :  "  Having  laid  under 
arms  that  night,  and  in  the  morning  burned  the 
greatest  part  of  the  village,  to  resent  the  fire 
of  the  rebels  from  their  houses  and  to  mask 
our  retreat,  we  took  boat  where  the  second 
division  had  landed." 

The  fifth  scene  of  the  drama  reveals  the  sor- 
row and  misery  of  the  desolated  town.  Think 
of  the  tragic  conditions.  The  withdrawal  of 
the  enemy  gave  the  scattered  families  oppor- 
tunity to  return.  They  brought  with  them 
the  few  things  which  they  had  taken  away 
in  the  hasty  departure  before  the  town  was 
burned. 

As  the  people  came  down  from  Mill  Hill, 
Round  Hill,  Osborn  Hill,  Holland  Hill,  there 
stretched  before  them  clouds  of  smoke  rising 
from  the  smouldering  ruins.  It  was  infinitely 
pitiful.  Yonder  stood  the  powder-house  on 
the  rise  of  ground  now  owned  by  Mr.  Edward 
Osborn.  Here  and  there  through  the  rifts  of 
enswathing  smoke-cloud,  the  stained  form  of  a 
solitary  house  was  seen.  A  half  dozen  build- 


142         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

ings  perhaps  remained  standing.  Mrs.  Lucretia 
Redfield  stayed  in  charge  of  her  home,  and  put 
out  the  flames  four  times.  (This  noble  woman 
became  the  wife  of  Isaac  Marquand.)  Invent- 
ive Mrs.  Nichols  found  an  original  use  for  yarn 
and  the  dye  tub,  by  converting  them  into  a 
fire  extinguisher,  so  that  her  home  was  saved. 
Tryon  made  the  Bulkley  house  his  headquar- 
ters, and  this  was  saved.  Truth  compels  us  to 
say,  however,  that  this  comfortable  mansion 
came  near  a  later  destruction  at  the  hands  of 
the  returning  loyal  citizens,  because  the  owners 
were  royalists. 

What  a  picture  presented  itself  to  the  har- 
assed citizens  of  the  town  as  they  once  more 
walked  its  streets !  Heaps  upon  heaps  of 
ashes  ;  charred  remains  of  timbers,  tree  trunks, 
implements  of  toil,  means  of  conveyance ; 
yards,  gardens,  fields,  stained  and  blackened  by 
ashes  and  half-burnt  pieces  of  wood ;  broken 
furniture,  torn  garments,  remains  of  things 
precious  and  beautiful,  tossed  about  hither  and 
thither  in  wind  and  rain  ;  domestic  animals 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  143 

destroyed,  injured,  or  affrighted  ;  provisions 
gone,  and  small  stock  of  food  or  clothing  upon 
which  to  draw  in  cases  of  necessity  ;  the  forms 
of  several  dead  men  (the  body  of  a  Hessian 
was  buried  just  by  the  side  of  the  meeting- 
house ruins). 

"The  distress  of  this  poor  people  is  inex- 
pressible," writes  Mr.  Eliot.  There  were  some 
two  hundred  and  eighteen  buildings  destroyed 
— the  churches,  court-house,  jail,  schoolhouses, 
ninety-seven  dwellings,  sixty-seven  barns,  forty- 
eight  stores  and  shops.  Eighty  families  had 
their  taxes  abated,  by  action  of  the  General 
Assembly,  on  account  of  their  losses. 

Twenty-two  days  after  the  conflagration. 
Andrew  Eliot  gathered  his  congregation  upon 
the  Green  in  front  of  the  charred  remains  of 
the  meeting-house,  and  there  delivered  a  mem- 
orable address.  That  same  sermon  was  pre- 
served in  the  corner-stone  of  the  later  church 
edifice. 

The  fifth  sanctuary  was  burned  on  the  night 
of  May  29  and  the  morning  of  May  30,  1890- 


144         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

Who  that  was  present  in  the  Town  Hall  on 
the  following  Sunday,  June  1st,  can  forget  the 
moment  in  the  service  when  the  pastor  held 
in  his  hand  the  old  yellow  manuscript  of  Mr. 
Eliot's  sermon  delivered  on  the  Green  one  hun- 
dred and  eleven  years  before  ?  A  quotation 
from  the  ancient  address  thrilled  the  congrega- 
tion, and  brought  tears  to  many  eyes. 

We  had  just  seen  a  flame  compacted  temple, 
walls  fire  studded,  roof  fire  thatched,  tower 
fire  buttressed,  fire  columns  holding  aloft  a 
palpitant  pillar  of  fire.  We  had  seen  this  lumi- 
nous, flaming  house  of  God  caught  up  into 
the  heavens  and  vanish  from  our  sight.  And 
as  the  words  of  Andrew  Eliot  sounded  in  our 
ears,  it  did  seem  for  a  moment  that  we  were 
transported  into  the  past,  and  made  to  share  the 
grief,  the  poverty,  the  desolation,  of  the  people 
who  stood  out  under  the  blue  sky  in  the  midst 
of  memorable  ashes,  and  worshipped  God  in 
nature's  sanctuary. 

In  his  few  words  of  personal  statement  Mr. 
Eliot  stood  forth  as  an  example  of  many 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  145 

among  his  parishioners.  "  Not  a  house  for  my 
shelter,  two-thirds  of  my  personal  estate  plun- 
dered and  consumed,  a  wife  and  three  small 
children  dependent  on  me  for  their  maintenance. 
...  I  feel  myself  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  as  to 
many  of  the  necessities  of  life.  .  .  .  And  yet, "he 
continued,  "  I  am  ready  to  undergo  any  difficul- 
ties in  the  work  of  the  ministry  for  your  sakes." 

So  this  noble  workman  released  his  people 
from  the  burden  of  his  salary  until  such  time 
as  they  might  be  able  to  renew  their  care  of 
him.  He  struggled  along  as  best  he  could 
under  the  circumstances. 

It  is  pleasant  to  record  the  fact  that  the 
New  North  Church  in  Boston  remembered  Mr. 
Eliot  in  his  extremity,  and  took  up  a  generous 
collection  for  him  when  the  condition  of  affairs 
in  Fairfield  was  known.  So  that  another  bond 
was  formed  between  the  two  towns.  The  ser- 
mon was  preached  on  the  day  of  the  collection 
by  Dr.  Simeon  Howard,  who  took  for  his  text 
the  words,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive." 
10 


146         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

So  we  drop  the  curtain  upon  this  fifth  act 
of  the  drama. 

It  was  a  new  phase  of  life  upon  which  the 
people  of  Fairfield  now  entered.  Experience 
had  taught  them  some  rough  lessons.  We  do 
not  wonder  that  they  refused  to  look  upon  the 
Tories  with  favor.  The  long  list  of  confiscated 
estates  found  in  the  town  records  is  just  about 
what  was  to  be  expected  under  the  circum- 
stances. The  people  here  were  suddenly  con- 
fronted with  poverty.  They  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  comforts  and  even  the  luxuries  of 
life.  Prosperity  had  smiled  upon  them  through 
well  nigh  every  year  of  growth.  Now  they 
were  homeless,  foodless,  almost  without  clothes. 

But  with  all  their  deprivation  and  suffering 
they  were  far  from  hopeless.  Mr.  Eliot  struck 
a  responsive  chord  when  he  told  them  he  was 
ready  to  undergo  difficulties  with  them. 
Pinched  and  stricken  as  they  were,  a  force  of 
rebound  and  vitality  was  immediately  manifest. 

The  people  gathered  what  boards  and  tim- 
bers they  could  find  and  erected  temporary 


THE  BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  147 

quarters.  Some  of  the  families  used  old  sheds 
that  had  escaped  the  fire.  Thaddeus  Burr 
fixed  over  a  little  shop.  Later  his  good  friend 
Governor  Hancock  supplied  him  with  a  part  of 
the  material  for  the  rebuilding  of  his  mansion 
on  the  old  site,  the  simple  condition  of  the  gift 
being  that  Mr.  Burr's  house  should  be  modelled 
after  the  mansion  of  Governor  Hancock  in 
Boston. 

So  there  began  to  rise  from  the  tell-tale  ruins 
humble,  modest  dwellings,  and  such  shops  and 
stores  as  the  times  justified. 

The  town  watchmaker  recovered  his  wares 
from  the  chinks  in  the  old  well  where  he 
had  concealed  them.  Pewter  and  silver  were 
drawn  up  from  the  depths  of  their  recep- 
tacles. 

The  elaborate  clothes  of  Revolutionary  days 
were  forthcoming  from  some  inexplicable 
source.  A  new  Town  Hall  was  built,  where 
the  Prime  Ancient  Society  worshipped.  Sol- 
diers returned  from  their  campaigns  and  settled 
down  to  business.  The  belief  that  the  Colonies 


148          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

were  bound  to  win  strengthened.  At  last  came 
the  day  of  peace. 

In  January,  1788,  Mr.  Thaddeus  Burr  and 
Judge  Jonathan  Sturges  were  delegates  to  the 
State  convention  at  Hartford,  called  to  ratify 
the  new  Constitution.  When  the  first  Congress 
convened  in  New  York,  Judge  Sturges  repre- 
sented Fairfield.  "  The  evening  years  of  his 
life,"  as  Mr.  Silliman  tells  us  in  his  reminis- 
cences, "  were  devoted  to  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Connecticut." 
"  With  a  fine  person,"  Mr.  Silliman  continues, 
11  Judge  Sturges  had  the  superior  manners 
of  that  day,  dignity  softened  by  a  kind  and 
winning  courtesy,  with  the  stamp  of  benevo- 
lence." 

There  was  what  might  be  called  a  re-organ- 
ization of  things  in  this  old  New  England 
town.  It  was  upon  the  footing  of  indepen- 
dence that  life  was  now  constructed.  There 
was  less  of  the  show  and  pomp  that  cling  to 
monarchies.  People  were  compelled  by  cir- 
cumstances to  be  modest  in  their  display. 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  149 

Government  was  conducted  on  a  scheme  of 
simplicity  that  did  not  call  for  any  great  expen- 
diture of  money. 

While  the  leaders  gathered  here  in  Fairfield 
much  as  in  days  of  yore,  there  was  a  certain 
atmosphere  of  economy.  The  social  activity 
soon  regained  itself.  The  little  companies 
which  came  to  the  new  home  of  Thaddeus  Burr 
and  discussed  with  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight  the 
questions  of  religion,  politics,  and  literature 
fairly  represented  the  prevailing  tone  of  life  in 
the  place.  And  one  can  find  no  more  vivid, 
interesting  setting  forth  of  social  activity  at 
the  time  than  that  which  is  given  us  in  the 
home  of  this  honored  Thaddeus  and  Eunice 
Dennie  Burr.  Let  us  picture  it  as  the  records 
give  us  the  precious  details. 

There  stands  the  mansion,  large,  chaste,  ele- 
gant, hospitable,  surrounded  by  trees  that  had 
escaped  the  ravages  of  the  conflagration. 
There  are  three  stories  to  the  edifice,  and  the 
spaces  are  high  between  the  floors.  The  dig- 
nity of  pillars  in  front,  sustaining  the  roof  of 


150         AN  OLD   NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

the  antique  porch  contributes  to  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  structure. 

One  first  enters  the  great  hall  of  the  man- 
sion. Commodious  rooms  are  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  left.  Furniture  has  been  sent 
down  from  Boston,  and  many  curious  and 
beautiful  things  adorn  the  generous  interior. 
There  is  an  air  of  welcome  which  interprets  the 
spirit  of  master  and  mistress. 

Mr.  Burr  was  a  man  of  fine  presence,  carry- 
ing with  him  all  the  old-time  grace  peculiar  to 
high  life  in  the  Colonies.  But  the  informing 
spirit  of  the  home  is  Eunice  Dennie  the  wife. 

Copley  made  frequent  visits  here,  so  that  we 
know  exactly  how  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burr 
looked.  The  portrait  of  Mrs.  Burr  was  re- 
cently exhibited  in  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Design.  The  figure  is  life  size ;  the  dress 
characteristic  of  the  times.  The  pose  is 
queenly.  The  reproduction  of  the  face,  which 
is  familiar  to  many  of  us,  reveals  rare  beauty 
and  strength.  Educated,  refined,  familiar 
with  the  best  society  of  the  land,  a  natural 


THE   BURNING   OF   FAIRFIELD.  !$! 

leader  in  the  social  realm,  "  adorned  with  all 
the  qualities  which  give  distinction  to  her  sex, 
possessed  of  fine  accomplishments  and  a  dig- 
nity of  character  scarcely  rivalled"  (this  last 
sentence  is  a  tribute  from  Dr.  Dwight),  Mrs. 
Burr  charmed  every  visitor  and  quickened 
every  mind  that  came  within  the  spell  of  her 
sweet  and  virtuous  enchantment. 

It  was  a  distinguished  succession  of  guests 
which  rested  in  that  memorable  home.  The 
great  and  the  good  of  a  generation  turned 
often  to  its  gracious  privileges.  It  was  not 
alone  that  John  Hancock,  Edmund  Quincy, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  other  Boston  or  Massachu- 
setts leaders  came  to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burr. 
Jefferson,  Burr,  Lafayette,  Franklin,  and  the 
company  of  men  that  shaped  the  destinies  of 
the  Republic  sought  the  repose  and  enjoyment 
of  such  society.  Thaddeus  Burr's  sister  had 
married  Lyman  Hall,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  from  Georgia. 
Dr.  Dwight,  referring  to  life  in  this  home, 
speaks  of  "  the  elegant  hospitality,"  "  the  re- 


152         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

fined  enjoyments,"  "the  works  of  charity," 
"the  rational  piety,  which  was  at  once  the 
animating  and  controlling  principle,"  so  that  it 
"  diffused  a  brilliancy  marked  even  by  the 
passing  eye."  There  were  no  children  to 
brighten  the  days  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burr,  but 
they  gave  themselves  with  regal  generosity  to 
their  friends  and  the  public.  In  the  old  house, 
Susan,  the  sister  of  .Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  had 
been  a  constant  visitor,  and  here  it  was  that 
she  was  married  to  Judge  Reeves,  of  Litchfield. 
But  any  attempt  to  paint  the  scenes  and  chron- 
icle the  doings  that  belong  to  the  life  of  these 
people  would  prove  futile. 

The  Burr  homestead  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Gershom,  a  nephew  of  Mr.  Thaddeus 
Burr.  This  Gershom  married  Priscilla  Loth- 
rop,  step-daughter  of  Noah  Hobart.  They 
were  the  parents  of  General  Gershom  Burr, 
who  inherited  the  property.  General  Burr 
married  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Eliot.  The 
historic  place  was  sold  in  the  early  years  of 
this  century  to  Mr.  Obadiah  Jones. 


THE   BURNING  OF  FAIRFIELD.  153 

Circumstances  put  Mrs.  Burr  and  Mrs.  Silli- 
man  to  the  forefront  during  this  period  of 
struggle  and  triumph.  They  were  lovely  and 
gifted  women,  fitted  to  adorn  the  most  elevated 
station.  The  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  have  shown  their  wise,  discriminat- 
ing, appreciative  reading  of  local  history  in 
naming  two  of  their  chapters  after  these  emi- 
nent women.  Their  memory  should  be  treas- 
ured with  fadeless  loyalty  and  affection. 

But  let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  they 
stand  forth  as  types  of  women  that  flourished 
during  these  tragic,  eventful  days.  From  the 
necessities  of  the  case  the  men  played  the  con- 
spicuous parts.  But  it  was  the  vital,  inspiring 
patriotism  of  the  mothers,  the  wives,  the  sis- 
ters, that  made  possible  our  national  indepen- 
dence. 

There  were  no  tasks  from  which  these  brave, 
great  women  shrank.  Did  it  come  as  the 
stern  bidding  of  duty,  they  were  prepared  to 
handle  the  musket  or  fire  the  cannon.  And 
yet  withal  there  was  a  beautiful  womanliness 


154         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

about  them  which  perpetually  witnessed  to  a 
native  worth  of  mind  and  spirit  that  made 
them  peers  among  the  womankind  of  all  ages. 
So  as  we  think  of  these  Fairfield  heroines 
cheerfully  enduring  privation,  faithfully  sus- 
taining the  men  in  their  battle  for  liberty,  sub- 
mitting without  murmur  to  the  sorrows  and 
terrors  of  war,  infusing  fresh  enthusiasm  into 
life  when  the  tide  seemed  setting  against 
them,  retaining  their  noble  ideals  and  illustrat- 
ing their  Christian  graces  through  all  the  un- 
certainties and  desolations  of  conflict,  we  are 
to  think  of  them  as  precious  and  illuminating 
souls,  noble  in  their  lives,  worthy  our  imita- 
tion and  the  unstinted  reverence  of  all  men. 


IX. 

Poverty,  Education,  Conflict 


IX. 

POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT. 

REFERENCE  has  been  made  to  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Rev.  Noah  Hobart.  Another  in- 
teresting courtship  culminating  in  wedlock  is 
noted  at  the  period  under  review.  Andrew 
Eliot  was  son  of  the  parish  minister  of  the 
same  name,  grandson  of  Andrew  Eliot,  D.D., 
of  the  New  North  Church,  Boston. 

I  have  been  told  that  recently  a  man  applied 
to  the  town  clerk  for  a  license  to  marry,  and 
when  questioned  as  to  the  name  and  age  of  the 
supposed  happy  object  of  his  affections,  he  re- 
plied with  surprise  that  he  had  not  yet  settled 
upon  a  woman ;  he  just  thought  he  would  get 
a  license  and  carry  it  with  him  in  case  he  did 
decide  the  matter. 

Now,  young  Andrew  Eliot  was  in  love.     It 


158          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

was  Saturday  morning  that  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  marry.  The  object  of  his  affections 
was  well  known.  So  that  very  day  he  went  to 
the  lady  and  asked  her  to  become  his  wife  on 
the  following  evening.  This  seemed  rather  a 
short  time  to  make  the  trousseau,  send  out 
wedding  invitations,  and  prepare  the  marriage 
feast.  But  Miss  Sophia  and  her  mother  said 
they  would  consider  it  through  the  day,  and  the 
answer  would  be  forthcoming  in  the  evening. 

As  the  mother  was  baking,  she  concluded 
that  it  would  make  little  additional  trouble  to 
bake  the  wedding  cake  ;  and  as  the  daughter 
found  a  presentable  white  dress  among  her 
gowns,  the  way  seemed  clear  for  the  union. 
The  next  morning  the  banns  were  published 
at  church,  and  the  happy  couple  were  made  one 
in  the  evening.  This  Mr.  Eliot  was  pastor  of 
the  old  church  in  New  Milford. 

This  was  doubtless  a  method  peculiar  to  Mr. 
Eliot ;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  many  of  the  people 
made  elaborate  preparations  for  these  cere- 
monies at  this  time.  Susan,  a  sister  of  this 


POVERTY,    EDUCATION,    CONFLICT.       159 

Andrew  Eliot,  married  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Hevvit,  D.D.  She  was  his  second  wife.  Dr. 
Hewit's  first  wife,  a  daughter  of  Senator  Hill- 
house  of  New  Haven,  died  early  in  their  mar- 
ried life. 

Although  the  parish  church  was  rebuilt  in 
1786,  it  was  seventeen  years  before  the  people 
were  able  to  complete  the  woodwork,  plaster- 
ing, and  glazing  of  the  interior.  It  was  forty- 
two  years  ere  the  edifice,  painted  inside  and 
outside,  was  really  finished.  This  is  only  one 
indication  of  the  common  poverty.  Early  in 
the  century,  sickness  prevailed  widely,  and  the 
people  organized  "The  Charitable  Society" 
in  order  to  meet  the  needs  of  many  sufferers. 
This  was  another  indication  of  the  needs  pecul- 
iar to  the  town  at  this  period. 

The  flag  of  our  country  has  passed  through 
various  changes.  In  1818  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  adopted  a  new  design  made  by 
Captain  S.  C.  Reid,  a  distinguished  naval  officer. 
It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Mrs.  Reid  to  make  the  first 
flag  in  accordance  with  the  new  design.  The 


l6o          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

I 

lady's  name,  with  the  names  of  those  that  as- 
sisted her,  was  inscribed  upon  the  flag.  Mrs. 
Reid  was  a  Fairfield  woman.  It  is  pleasant 
for  us  to  remember  that  the  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Nathan  Jennings  performed  this  patriotic 
service  for  our  country. 

And  this  was  quite  in  line  with  the  services 
of  many  another  Fairfield  woman  whose  work 
has  contributed  to  the  history  of  our  land. 
What  the  good  women  of  the  town  suffered 
through  the  years  that  succeeded  the  Revo- 
lution was  bravely  concealed.  Few  were  the 
complaints  heard.  On  every  side  retrenchment 
and  closest  economy  were  essential. 

At  the  time  of  the  burning  there  were  forty 
or  fifty  stores  and  shops,  that  gave  an  air  of 
business  to  the  place.  A  few  of  these  were 
rebuilt,  but  many  of  them  had  no  successors. 
Trade  was  gradually  diverted  to  other  towns. 

It  was  during  this  period,  when  Fairfield 
sought  to  recover  her  position,  that  Bridgeport 
took  its  start.  There  had  been  a  scattered  life 
manifest  in  Strathfield  and  Pequonnock,  but 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       i6r 

the  county  seat  overshadowed  such  obscure 
activity.  Now  the  current  of  enterprise  flowed 
in  the  direction  of  what  was  termed  New 
Field.  The  excellent  harbor  was  reason 
enough  for  the  development  of  this  part  of  the 
town.  And  it  was  manifest  ere  long  that 
Fairfield  had  a  competitor  for  leadership  close 
upon  her  borders. 

As  the  years  hastened  it  was  evident  that 
the  scattered  houses  to  the  east,  which  the  old 
citizens  of  this  place  considered  as  a  sort  of 
suburb  to  Fairfield,  were  rapidly  becoming  a 
prosperous  village,  outstripping  the  county 
seat  itself.  It  was  not  many  years  before  it 
was  generally  accepted  that  business  would 
gravitate  to  Bridgeport,  while  Fairfield  would 
be  left  to  its  honorable  traditions  and  its  his- 
toric associations. 

There  was  neither  envy  nor  regret  on  the 
part  of  either  people.  The  residents  of  Fair- 
field  with  few  exceptions  desired  their  native 
place  to  retain  in  so  far  as  it  was  possible  its 
ancient,  interesting  character.  They  were  re- 
ii 


1 62    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

luctant  to  see  the  town  given  over  to  trade 
and  manufacture. 

The  people  of  New  Field,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  already  caught  the  spirit  of  industrial  en- 
terprise and  commercial  service.  So  the  busi- 
ness that  according  to  the  nature  of  things 
would  have  centred  in  Fairfield  was  handed 
over  to  Bridgeport,  or  sought  a  larger  sphere 
of  operation  in  New  York. 

But  while  these  changes  were  taking  place, 
Fairfield  continued  to  thrive  in  a  certain  quiet, 
conservative  way,  and  throb  with  a  life  that 
was  exceedingly  fruitful.  The  days  when 
cities  were  to  multiply  and  take  larger  part  in 
the  history  of  the  nation  were  coming  on 
apace.  The  days  when  villages  like  Fairfield 
and  Litchfield  must  take  a  quite  subordinate 
position  in  the  public  records  were  already 
upon  them. 

Nevertheless  the  old  leadership  was  not 
yielded  without  a  struggle.  If  the  men  that 
shaped  affairs  were  not  as  numerous  here  as 
during  earlier  days,  it  was  found  that  many  a 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       163 

leader  reverted  to  Fairfield  as  the  home  of  his 
ancestors. 

The  parents  of  Joel  Barlow  moved  to  Red- 
ding, but  the  family  left  traces  of  their  impor- 
tance in  giving  their  name  to  that  section  of 
our  town  called  Barlow's  Plain.  The  poet  and 
statesman  himself  was  a  frequent  visitor. 
When  he  did  his  work  for  literature  and  the 
nation,  it  was  felt  that  this  old  New  England 
town  had  a  part  in  it.  When  his  untimely 
death  in  Poland  occurred,  there  were  sincere 
mourners  in  this  place. 

It  is  along  these  years  that  the  name  of 
Marquand  appears  in  the  church  records,  and 
the  American  ancestors  of  Frederick  and 
Henry  Marquand  gathered  that  sterling  man- 
hood which  they  were  to  transmit  unto  their 
successors.  The  love  of  knowledge,  educa- 
tion, music,  art,  which  the  sons  of  the  present 
generation  have  manifested  in  their  regal  gifts 
to  the  public  shows  what  kind  of  stuff  they  in- 
herited from  this  Fairfield  stock. 

It  is  pleasant  to  recall  such  names  and  note 


164          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

the  part  which  these  men  and  their  descend- 
ants have  taken  in  public  affairs.  There  was 
Andrew  Ward,  an  early  settler  of  the  place, 
who  was  appointed  one  of  the  assistants  or 
judges  in  the  first  legislative  body  of  the 
colony,  a  man  who  finally  chose  Fairfield  for 
his  home,  and  became  one  of  the  large  prop- 
erty holders  and  one  of  the  influential  men  of 
his  day.  His  honorable  descendants  have 
scattered  all  through  the  nation.  Among 
them  we  name  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
The  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  has  another 
member  of  the  family  for  its  secretary,  a  gen- 
tleman who  has  rendered  most  efficient  and 
valuable  service  to  the  encouragement  of  his- 
torical research  and  commemoration. 

For  generations  the  Pells  of  New  York  and 
Pelham  have  been  distinguished  for  their  lead- 
ership in  various  spheres  of  life.  Dr.  Thomas 
Pell,  a  London  gentleman,  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Fairfield.  His  estate  passed  to  a 
nephew,  John  Pell.  For  some  years  this  latter 
gentleman  continued  his  residence  in  this 


POVERTY,    EDUCATION,    CONFLICT.        165 

place ;  but  he  at  length  purchased  a  large 
estate  in  East  Chester,  N.  Y.,  and  came  with 
some  ten  Fairfield  families  to  settle  the  virgin 
territory  near  the  young  city  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Hudson.  Mr.  Pell  was  called  "Lord  of 
the  Manor,"  and  a  part  of  the  town  was  named 
Pelham  Manor. 

Education  was  always  dear  to  the  people  of 
Fairfield,  and  many  excellent  and  accomplished 
men  served  the  public  as  school-teachers.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  active  citizens  of  the 
place  were  college  graduates.  The  intellec- 
tual atmosphere  stimulated  the  youth  to  study 
and  professional  life.  The  Fairfield  men  that 
have  preached  the  gospel,  practised  law  or 
medicine,  become  prominent  educators,  or 
taken  a  leading  part  in  public  affairs  consti- 
tute a  very  large  company. 

But  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  this 
century  that  an  academy  flourished  in  the 
place.  When  the  people  had  recovered  from 
the  Revolution,  they  set  themselves  to  the 
task  of  organizing  this  higher  institution  of 


1 66    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

learning.  The  original  trustees  were  Jonathan 
Sturges,  Andrew  Eliot,  David  Judson,  Nathan 
Beers,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Rowland. 

There  are  many  famous  names  in  the  cata- 
logue of  instructors.  Professor  Button,  who 
filled  the  chair  of  astronomy  and  mathematics 
in  Yale  at  a  later  date;  Professor  S.  J.  Hitch- 
cock, afterward  an  instructor  in  Yale  ;  Rev.  E. 
W.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  president  of  Wabash  Col- 
lege; Hon.  Orrin  Fowler,  minister,  orator, 
reformer,  member  of  Congress ;  Rev.  G.  E. 
Pierce,  D.D.,  president  of  Western  Reserve 
College;  Hon.  Henry  Button,  governor  of 
Connecticut  and  judge  of  the  Superior  Court ; 
Rev.  Baniel  March,  B.B.;  Mr.  Henry  Bay,  the 
eminent  jurist;  Rev.  William  E.  Moore,  B.B., 
ex-moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  General  As- 
sembly ;  and  other  like  men. 

Such  teachers  were  bound  to  impart  more 
or  less  enthusiasm  to  their  pupils.  And  it  was 
a  congenial  set  of  men  with  whom  they  were 
brought  into  association.  The  clergy  made 
Fairfield  a  favorite  resort.  The  courts  still 


-- 


POVERTY,    EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       167 

drew  the  best  legal  talent  of  the  country  to 
the  town.  The  old  families  connected  with 
the  leaders  of  thought,  fashion,  politics,  the- 
ology, in  New  England,  were  always  entertain- 
ing guests  that  contributed  to  the  general 
fund  of  intellectual  life. 

There  was  great  regret  on  the  part  of  our 
townsmen  when  Timothy  Dwight  was  elected 
president  of  Yale  College,  for  it  was  felt  that 
Fairfield  as  well  as  Greenfield  Hill  would  lose 
one  of  her  eminent  citizens.  Dr.  Dwight  was 
closely  identified  with  the  social,  religious,  and 
intellectual  activity  of  the  whole  town.  But 
when  he  sold  his  place  to  Dr.  Isaac  Bronson, 
the  cultured  and  sagacious  financier,  it  was 
felt  that  some  one  had  come  among  the 
people  that  would  help  to  fill  the  place 
vacated  by  Dr.  Dwight. 

Dr.  Bronson's  grasp  of  public  affairs  was 
national  in  its  proportions.  Long  and  serious 
were  the  conversations  which  he  held  with 
Judge  Sherman  when  the  public  finances  were 
in  an  appalling  condition.  And  we  are  told 


1 68    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

that  it  was  one  result  of  these  wise,  pro- 
found discussions  on  the  part  of  Judge  Sher- 
man and  Dr.  Bronson  that  relief  was  sug- 
gested. 

Many  are  the  eminent  people  that  received 
some  part  of  their  education  in  the  academy. 
There  were  times  when  students  came  to  the 
school  from  the  South  and  the  West,  as  well  as 
from  the  East  and  the  North.  Among  the 
pupils  were  John  C.  Calhoun,  Francis  C. 
Granger,  afterward  postmaster-general,  and 
other  men  equally  notable  and  conspicuous. 

On  the  top  of  the  cupola  to  the  building 
there  rests  a  curious  and  interesting  ball,  com- 
posed of  some  sixty  pieces.  It  was  the  gift 
of  Mr.  Thomas  F.  Rowland,  who  built  the 
famous  "  Monitor." 

No  sooner  were  the  difficulties  with  Great 
Britain  during  the  early  part  of  this  century 
manifest,  than  Fairfield  was  again  thrown  into 
a  ferment  of  unrest  and  anxiety.  The  ships 
of  the  British  navy  were  familiar  objects  along 
these  shores,  and  it  was  felt  that  the  Connecti- 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.        169 

cut  towns  on  the  Sound  presented  an  attractive 
object  for  the  mischief  makers. 

War  was  declared,  and  this  State  showed  its 
bitter  opposition.  When  the  President  called 
upon  Connecticut  to  contribute  militia  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war,  there  was  misunder- 
standing and  contention.  These  shores  were 
left  without  protection.  The  State  militia 
rallied  to  the  support  of  local  interests,  but  it 
was  felt  that  such  help  was  insufficient. 

Then  came  the  famous  Hartford  convention, 
in  which  Judge  Sherman  took  a  leading  part. 
In  fact,  he  was  pronounced  the  great  man  of 
the  occasion. 

Widespread  was  the  concern  and  dismay 
which  prevailed  through  the  war  of  1812.  The 
little  fort  at  Black  Rock  was  manned.  The 
local  militia  again  filled  the  streets  with  their 
music  and  their  excitement.  Yet  it  was 
apparent  that  the  task  were  an  easy  one  did 
the  British  wish  to  repeat  their  assault  and 
again  burn  Fairfield  to  the  ground.  For 
months  the  anxiety  and  watchfulness  pre- 


I/O          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

vailed.  New  London  was  threatened,  and  Mrs. 
Jonathan  Sturges  tells  in  her  "  Reminiscences" 
how  her  family  buried  their  china  in  the  garden, 
and  secreted  other  valuables  as  best  they  could, 
thinking  that  the  town  would  be  destroyed. 

One  day  a  small  fleet  appeared  off  the 
bar  and  then  anchored  in  Bridgeport  harbor. 
Breastworks  had  been  thrown  up  on  Grover's 
Hill.  An  old  twelve-pound  cannon,  mounted 
on  a  pair  of  cartwheels,  was  brought  forth  and 
placed  upon  the  Green.  General  Gershom 
Burr  was  made  commanding  officer,  and  an 
alarm  was  sounded  about  sundown. 

Early  in  the  evening  men  began  to  arrive, 
and  by  daylight  some  two  thousand  citizen 
soldiers  were  assembled  on  the  beach.  But 
the  British  ships  had  disappeared,  and  so  the 
troops  dispersed. 

The  fort  on  Grover's  Hill  was  constructed 
of  rocks  covered  with  dirt  and  turf.  It  was 
garrisoned  by  Captain  Hanford  and  about 
thirty  United  States  soldiers.  It  was  large 
enough  to  hold  one  hundred  men. 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       I /I 

During  this  war  the  old  powder-house  was 
again  brought  into  frequent  service.  The 
dangerous  explosive  was  kept  away  from  the 
centre  of  traffic  and  life  ;  and  powder  brought 
to  town  was  always  lodged  in  this  little  stone 
building. 

When  the  house  was  first  built,  it  was  put 
under  the  charge  of  Thaddeus  Burr,  Esq.;  for 
we  read  a  vote  of  the  General  Assembly,  taken 
during  the  first  years  of  the  Revolution,  that 
Thaddeus  Burr  was  "  to  take  charge  of  all  the 
powder  sent  to  Fairfield." 

One  night  during  the  war  of  1812,  a  large 
wagon  heavily  laden  with  kegs  or  barrels  was 
driven  up  to  Knapp's  tavern  on  the  corner,  the 
horses  unhitched,  and  the  men  pleasantly 
housed  in  very  comfortable  quarters.  Two  of 
the  academy  boys,  sons  of  an  ex-governor,  were 
curious  to  know  the  contents  of  said  wagon. 
Taking  an  auger,  therefore,  they  proceeded  to 
bore  a  hole  in  one  of  the  barrels,  when  the 
powder  poured  forth  in  a  big  stream,  and  the 
boys  left  the  place  in  hot  haste.  An  observer 


1/2          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

close  at  hand  saw  the  transaction,  gave  the 
alarm,  had  the  stuff  transported  to  the  powder- 
house  on  the  hillside,  and  quite  likely  saved 
the  town  from  a  small  earthquake. 

It  was  only  a  generation  since  the  nation 
had  won  its  independence.  Many  citizens 
living  at  the  time  of  this  second  war  with 
Great  Britain  had  shared  the  first  struggle. 
But  this  second  affair  did  not  have  the  glory 
about  it  that  marked  the  first.  People  were 
all  the  time  wishing  it  to  end.  At  last  a  settle- 
ment of  difficulties  was  made  and  peace  declared. 
Then  the  country  went  wild  with  thanksgiving. 

One  of  the  liveliest  and  most  noteworthy 
celebrations  was  held  here  in  Fairfield.  The 
citizens  appointed  Friday,  February  25th,  as 
the  day  to  celebrate.  In  the  morning  there 
was  a  Federal  salute  from  Fort  Union  at  Black 
Rock.  This  was  answered  by  a  salute  fired 
by  Colonel  Burr's  artillery  located  upon  the 
Green.  People  flocked  into  the  place  from  all 
the  surrounding  country.  A  great  throng 
filled  the  streets  and  ignored  the  weather. 


POVERTY,    EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       1/3 

At  ten  o'clock  the  procession  was  formed  at 
Fort  Union.  Citizens  marched  in  large  num- 
bers, and  they  were  followed  by  the  State  troops. 
Then  appeared  a  very  pretty  sight.  A  long 
boat  had  been  taken  and  beautifully  decorated 
with  the  flags  of  many  nations.  This  gay 
object  was  drawn  by  thirty  picked  youths. 

"The  day  of  the  celebration,"  says  Mr. 
Henry  Rowland,  in  his  graphic  reminiscences 
of  this  period,  "  was  stormy,  a  deep  snow  fall- 
ing." George  Rowland  took  a  boat  and  put  it 
on  sleigh-runners  with  drag-ropes  attached. 
About  thirty  youths  manned  this  craft. 

When  the  two  gay  and  curious  boats  met  in 
the  street,  the  cry  went  forth  from  each  of 
them,  "  Ship  ahoy  !  Who  are  you  ?  Where 
from  ?  Whither  bound  ?  How  many  days 
out  ?  "  They  were  the  sensation  of  the  hour. 

The  martial  music,  the  brilliant  display  of 
colors,  the  shining  weapons  of  war,  the  happy 
companies  of  men  and  soldiers — it  all  made  a 
pageant  long  remembered  with  keen  delight 
by  the  thousands  of  on-lookers.  Arrived  at 


174          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

the  parish  church,  as  large  a  proportion  of  the 
throng  as  was  possible  passed  into  the  edifice, 
and  there  joined  in  expressions  of  congratula- 
tion that  the  war  was  ended.  Dr.  Humphrey, 
the  pastor  of  the  old  church,  gave  an  eloquent 
and  inspiring  address.  Then  the  procession 
was  re-formed,  and  after  some  marching  the 
citizens  and  the  soldiers  proceeded  to  test  the 
quality  of  the  great  ox  which  had  been  roasted 
whole  upon  the  Green  for  their  benefit. 

Tradition  says  that  the  men  who  got  the 
first  cuts  fared  better  than  those  who  came 
later.  The  meat  grew  very  rare  as  the  feast 
proceeded ;  and  it  was  only  on  the  second 
day  that  many  of  the  revellers  were  able  to 
find  a  piece  done  to  their  liking. 

One  account  of  the  celebration  says :  "  The 
ox  was  served  up  to  rich  and  poor  alike,  and 
they  enjoyed  it  together."  But  I  suspect  there 
was  considerable  imagination  about  the  enjoy- 
ment of  it,  if  the  truth  were  known. 

Meanwhile  the  ladies  were  having  their  feast 
in  the  second  story  of  the  court-house.  Five 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       175 

hundred  of  them  sat  down  together  and  had 
what  the  Hartford  Courant  calls  "  an  elegant 
dinner." 

At  sunset  another  Federal  salute  was  fired. 
When  the  darkness  had  set  in,  and  people  had 
prepared  their  candles,  there  was  a  universal 
illumination.  The  amount  of  tallow  consumed 
that  night  was  simply  appalling.  A  necessary 
economy  in  light  extending  through  months 
followed. 

Dr.  Humphrey  was  opposed  on  principle  to 
such  waste  and  extravagance.  So  he  left  his 
house  without  light.  But  Miss  Mary  Hobart 
did  not  intend  that  her  pastor  should  be  made 
conspicuous  by  darkness.  She  took  the  mat- 
ter in  hand,  and  compelled  the  minister  against 
his  mind  to  fill  his  windows  with  the  innumer- 
able tallow  dips,  and  shine  his  loyalty  into  the 
eyes  of  the  shifting  throngs  upon  the  street. 

Then  when  Sunday  came  Dr.  Humphrey 
enjoyed  a  mild  revenge  by  preaching  from  the 
text,  "  I  will  praise  the  name  of  God  with  a 
song,  and  will  magnify  Him  with  thanksgiving. 


176         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND   TOWN. 

This  also  shall  please  the  Lord  better  than  an 
ox  or  bullock  that  hath  horns  and  hoofs."  So 
the  good  man  not  only  showed  his  disapproval 
of  the  illumination,  but  also  took  occasion  to 
"let  fly"  at  the  poor  ox  "  barbecued  "  on  the 
Green. 

One  feature  of  the  illumination  was  a  tall 
tree  with  cross  sticks  all  the  way  from  the 
ground  to  the  tree-top,  capped  each  by  a  tar 
barrel.  This  pyramid  of  light  shone  far  into 
the  night. 

While  this  illumination  was  blazing  away  in 
all  glory,  men,  women,  and  children  perambu- 
lated the  streets,  and  basked,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
unnatural  effulgence  until  about  nine  o'clock. 
The  Washington  Hotel  was  then  the  common 
object  of  interest.  A  splendid  and  brilliant 
ball  gave  a  touch  of  elaborate  finish  to  the 
festivities.  Wealth,  beauty,  fashion,  culture, 
power,  they  were  all  on  hand  to  grace  the 
occasion. 

When  it  was  ended,  Fairfield  felt  that  she  had 
done  the  square  thing  for  herself  and  the  coun- 


POVERTY,   EDUCATION,   CONFLICT.       177 

try  in  emphasizing  the  common  jubilation.  It 
is  doubtful  if  Dr.  Humphrey  attended  the  ball, 
for  he  was  frank  to  express  his  disapproval  of 
that  particular  form  of  thanksgiving.  But  one 
of  his  predecessors  was  differently  minded, 
which  occasioned  the  characteristic  remark  by 
a  parishioner,  that  "  she  certainly  hoped  her 
minister  would  be  converted  before  he  died." 


X. 

The  Social  Atmosphere. 


X. 

THE   SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE. 

MANY  interesting  details  of  life  during  the 
early  part  of  the  century  are  preserved  in  the 
journals  of  Miss  Sarah  White.  This  maiden 
lady  was  a  very  active  member  of  society. 
Her  notes  extend  through  a  period  of  fifty 
years.  She  was  thoroughly  versed  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  town,  and  her  means  of  gathering 
information  were  characteristic. 

It  was  an  age  when  the  tea-party  was  a 
favorite  form  of  dissipation.  The  reading  of 
Miss  White's  journal  would  convey  the  im- 
pression that  Fairfield  society  was  kept  in  a 
perfect  whirl  of  tea-party  gayeties.  Cosey  lit- 
tle visits  where  the  company  numbered  two, 
the  informal  gathering  of  five  or  six  friends, 
the  conventional  afternoon  when  all  society 


1 82         AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

was  present,  these  were  the  popular  varieties. 
"  I  took  tea  with  Dr.  Dodge  [a  brother  of  Wil- 
liam E.  Dodge]  at  Deacon  Judson's,"  Miss 
White  observes. 

Occasionally  the  festive  company  came  to- 
gether at  mid-day  and  enjoyed  an  orthodox 
New  England  dinner.  Mrs.  Dr.  Hull  was  ac- 
customed to  give  an  annual  noon  feast  to  the 
widows  of  Fairfield.  This  led  Miss  Mary  Ho- 
bart  to  do  something  in  the  same  line,  with  a 
certain  important  difference.  If  the  widows 
deserved  such  attention  and  enjoyment,  she 
was'  persuaded  that  the  spinsters  deserved 
something  equally  fine.  So  the  maiden  ladies 
of  Fairfield  were  all  invited  to  dine  with  Miss 
Hobart.  Some  wag  rang  the  church  bell  at 
noon  in  honor  of  the  unique  company. 

Turkey  was  only  eight  cents  a  pound  at  this 
time.  It  was  the  day  of  barter.  "  I  bought  a 
pint  of  gin  and  some  raisins,  and  paid  for  them 
in  eggs,"  writes  the  methodical  Miss  White. 
She  gives  us  many  a  fresh  view  into  the  cur- 
rent of  life. 


THE   SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE.  183 

Sunday  night  was  the  favorite  wedding  oc- 
casion. As  the  people  all  kept  Saturday  even- 
ing, the  evening  of  the  Lord's  Day  was  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  holiday.  It  was  not 
considered  a  time  to  work,  and  yet  the  proper 
number  of  hours  had  been  devoted  to  rest  and 
worship.  So  there  was  a  compromise,  and  the 
evening  was  devoted  to  light  tasks  and  social 
activities. 

Illumination  was  by  means  of  candles.  Peo- 
ple made  their  own  light,  supplied  themselves 
with  wood,  did  the  family  weaving  at  home, 
raised  a  large  portion  of  the  produce  consumed 
in  the  house  and  on  the  place.  It  was,  in  fact, 
the  age  of  homespun. 

Training  day  still  continued  an  occasion  of 
frolic,  although  the  great  temperance  move- 
ment, which  had  been  shared  with  such  en- 
thusiasm by  Dr.  Humphrey  and  Dr.  Hewit, 
had  toned  down  the  character  of  the  fun  and 
frivolity.  Aunt  Dinah  and  Uncle  Kit  brought 
their  barrel  of  home-brewed  beer  on  to  the 
meeting-house  steps  regularly  each  first  Mon- 


1 84         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND   TOWN. 

day  of  May  and  September.  They  sold  their 
cards  of  gingerbread  at  two  cents  apiece,  and 
election  cakes  at  five.  The  boys  and  the  girls 
watched  the  military  display  with  the  same 
intense  interest  that  had  marked  their  ances- 
tors for  five  generations  ;  and  many  a  manly 
heart  beat  with  new  life  when  admiring  maid- 
ens smiled  their  approval  upon  the  favored  hero. 

Dancing  and  card-playing  had  been  very 
popular  during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  here  in  town.  But  popular  amuse- 
ments were  again  put  under  the  ban  by  the 
leaders  of  society.  The  hours  and  the  ener- 
gies that  had  been  devoted  to  the  important 
matters  of  Church  and  State  in  earlier  years 
were  now  given  to  the  consideration  of  the 
small  questions  which  have  to  do  with  neigh- 
borhood relations. 

The  community  life  was  familiar.  Anything 
that  interested  one  person  interested  all.  Per- 
sonal and  family  affairs  were  everybody's  busi- 
ness. This  is  one  of  the  chief  advantages  of 
living  in  a  small  town.  One  can  benefit  by 


THE  SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE.  185 

the  watchfulness  and  criticism  of  his  neighbors. 
Often  friends  will  know  more  about  a  man's 
business  than  the  man  himself.  They  take  an 
outside  and  disinterested  view  of  the  situation, 
as  it  were,  and  gratuitously  help  a  man  to  do 
what  he  ought  to  do.  City  life  has  a  tendency 
to  destroy  this  mutual  oversight  and  fraternal 
cooperation. 

One  of  the  features  of  Miss  White's  journal 
is  the  concise  way  in  which  she  refers  to  this 
frequent  duty  and  privilege  of  neighborhood 
watch-care.  They  met  at  Mrs.  A's  or  B's  or 
C's  and  "  talked  over  the  last  candidate  for  the 
church."  He  was  "  opposed  by  various  people 
because  he  was  too  dramatic."  This  candidate, 
by  the  way,  became  an  important  and  con- 
spicuous minister  later  in  life. 

A  collection  was  taken  in  church  for  the 
Education  Society.  Miss  White  remarks 
that  she  never  will  give  to  that  object,  for  she 
doesn't  propose  "  to  help  support  men."  Rec- 
ord is  repeatedly  made  of  a  death  on  one  day 
and  the  burial  on  the  next.  The  names  of 


1 86    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

couples  to  be  married  are  "  published  "  on  Sun- 
day morning,  and  the  connubial  knot  is  tied  on 
the  same  Sunday  evening. 

Brief  notes  upon  the  preaching  are  made. 
On  one  occasion  it  is  recorded  that  Dr.  Hewit 
"preached  rather  a  scolding  sermon."  Mr. 
Hunter  was  famous  for  his  sarcasm.  He  was 
prone  to  hit  right  and  left.  On  one  particular 
occasion,  as  he  made  his  point  in  respect  to 
this  and  that  and  the  other  parishioner,  a  sym- 
pathetic hearer  in  a  front  conspicuous  pew 
turned  his  head  and  nodded  suggestively  and 
vehemently  in  the  direction  of  the  particular 
individual  who  was  hit  by  that  special  shaft  of 
wit.  This  gave  unwonted  interest  and  vivac- 
ity to  the  sermon,  and  served  to  fasten  the 
truth  permanently  in  the  mind  of  the  party 
chiefly  concerned.  As  an  every-day  and  uni- 
versal method  of  procedure,  its  wisdom  and 
charity  may  be  questioned.  But  it  certainly 
contributed  to  the  enjoyment  and  liveliness  of 
the  town  tea-parties,  and  helped  to  keep  the 
social  life  of  the  place  from  stagnation. 


THE  SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE.  1 87 

The  second  service  in  the  parish  church  con- 
tinued to  be  held  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  one 
of  these  afternoons,  May  3,  1835,  when  the  inn 
on  the  corner  opposite  the  church  was  burned. 
The  Sunday-school  was  in  session.  The  or- 
dinary time  for  afternoon  meeting  was  two 
o'clock.  For  two  hours  the  services  were  de- 
layed, the  men  of  the  congregation  lending  a 
hand  in  the  saving  of  property ;  but  when  the 
flames  had  subsided,  the  bell  was  tolled,  and 
the  people  passed  into  the  meeting-house  for 
the  usual  services.  While  the  attention  may  not 
have  been  close,  doubtless  the  rest  was  grateful. 

What  a  picture  it  makes,  this  long  second 
service  on  a  hot  summer  day !  Here  and  there 
a  head  suddenly  yields  to  its  weight  and  top- 
ples over  to  one  side.  An  occasional  loud 
blast  indicates  that  some  one  has  just  awakened 
out  of  a  sleep  and  is  trying  to  make  people 
think  he  is  simply  blowing  his  nose.  Several 
of  the  children  have  nestled  down  composedly 
by  the  side  of  parents  and  are  gathering 
strength  for  coming  frolics. 


1 88    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

The  windows  are  open,  and  the  gentle  cackle 
of  ducks,  with  the  sibilant  hissing  of  geese, 
floats  upon  the  air.  Two  naughty  boys  in  the 
gallery  have  brought  their  fish-lines  with  them, 
and,  having  baited  them  with  the  refuse  of  the 
noonday  lunch,  they  now  slyly  cast  them  forth 
from  the  windows  and  dangle  them  enticingly 
before  the  familiar  fowls  that  domesticate 
themselves  upon  the  Green.  A  long  pull  and 
a  strong  pull  indicates  that  they  have  had  a 
bite. 

One  boy  tumbles  from  his  seat  in  the  excite- 
ment ;  the  other  becomes  suddenly  sleepy ; 
and  the  poor  goose  sets  up  a  cry  that  sets  off 
all  the  fowls  of  the  neighborhood.  For  a  few 
minutes  the  minister's  voice  is  drowned  by  the 
inexplicable  hubbub  beneath  the  meeting- 
house windows.  And  yet  the  lessons  of  the 
day  are  not  forgotten.  No  sooner  is  the  fam- 
ily gathered  in  the  home,  than  texts  are  recited, 
the  sermon  discussed,  the  catechism  taught, 
and  the  nail  of  truth  clinched,  so  to  speak,  by 
the  finishing  touches  of  the  home  pressure. 


THE  SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE.  189 

A  bundle  of  letters,  yellow  with  age,  gives 
suggestive  pictures  of  the  period.  One  writer 
speaks  of  the  mild  winter  (1819).  On  February 
7th  people  are  ploughing  the  fields.  Another 
of  our  good  ladies  writes  that  it  is  a  pity  the 
family  is  not  in  town,  as  they  might  "  possibly 
stand  a  chance  to  push  off  some  of  the  old 
maids"  belonging  to  them.  There  are  petty 
disturbances  recorded,  so  we  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  theft  and  iniquity  are  not 
peculiarly  town  characteristics  to-day.  There 
are  quaint  sketches  of  cottage  routine,  charita- 
ble work,  village  frivolity,  public  events.  One 
has  to  use  very  little  imagination  to  bring  back 
the  early  days  of  the  century,  and  live  at  second 
hand  the  life  that  was  simple  yet  happy,  hum- 
drum yet  fruitful,  narrow  yet  satisfying. 

A  spiritual  tone  pervades  much  of  the  corre- 
spondence, which  testifies  to  a  reaction  from 
the  preceding  skepticism.  When  the  boys  left 
home  for  business,  and  they  were  doing  that 
sort  of  thing  in  the  morning  of  the  century 
here  in  Fairfield,  the  fathers  and  the  mothers 


AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

yearned  over  them  with  a  fervent  Christian 
affection.  Some  of  these  letters  are  fragrant 
with  the  spirit  of  loyalty  and  consecration. 
They  show  that  while  there  was  much  of 
gayety,  sport,  political  activity,  intellectual  life, 
in  the  town,  there  was  also  the  grace  of  deep 
religious  sentiment,  the  uplook  and  the  inspi- 
ration of  vital  faith. 

It  is  a  fact  well  worth  remembrance,  that 
such  a  condition  of  things  was  the  result  not 
only  of  faithful  service  on  the  part  of  Fairfield 
ministers,  but  quite  as  much  the  result  of  fine 
and  sterling  Christian  manhood  on  the  part  of 
laymen.  People  are  apt  to  ignore  or  under- 
value the  mercies  and  advantages  which  touch 
them  in  the  closest  way.  On  the  principle  that 
no  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet,  we  are  prone  to 
think  so  much  of  what  we  have  not  got  or  do 
not  find,  that  we  neglect  the  things  quite  as 
precious  which  are  distributed  to  us  with 
prodigal  hand. 

There  has  always  been  a  high  tone  to  life 
here  in  town.  The  men  that  have  won  the 


THE   SOCIAL  ATMOSPHERE.  191 

leadership  through  all  these  centuries  have 
been  men  of  integrity,  religious  impulses,  noble 
mind.  The  matters  which  concern  both  Church 
and  State  have  been  managed  by  individuals 
that  stood  for  righteousness.  One  after  an- 
other commanding  personality,  like  Roger 
Ludlow,  Major  Nathan  Gold,  Captain  John 
Burr,  Governor  Gold,  Judge  Peter  Burr,  Gen- 
eral Silliman,  Hon.  Thaddeus  Burr,  Judge 
Jonathan  Sturges,  Judge  Roger  M.  Sherman 
— one  after  another  layman  of  such  stamp  has 
identified  himself  with  the  social,  business, 
political,  and  religious  life  of  the  town  to  such 
an  extent  that  affairs  reveal  a  tone  especially 
notable  and  praiseworthy. 

Judge  Sherman  used  to  say  that  "  either 
human  nature  was  different  in  Fairfield  than 
elsewhere,  or  that  the  people  from  the  frequent 
exhibitions  at  the  court-house  had  become 
disgusted  with  law,  or  that  his  gratuitous 
advice  saved  them  from  going  to  law  ;  certain 
it  was  that  there  was  less  litigation  here  than 
in  any  part  of  the  country."  The  leading  men 


192          AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

have  been  Christian  men,  whether  they  were 
farmers,  lawyers,  merchants,  teachers,  states- 
men, generals,  physicians,  writers,  bankers,  or 
whatever  they  were.  It  is  reason  for  just 
pride  and  unstinted  gratitude  that  such  men 
have  shaped  the  life  of  the  town  and  given 
their  manhood  to  its  prosperity. 


XI. 

Judge  Roger  M.  Sherman. 


XI. 

JUDGE   ROGER   M.   SHERMAN. 

ONE  is  not  surprised  that  Chauncey  M. 
Depew,  William  M.  Evarts,  and  Senator  Hoar 
refer  with  keen  satisfaction  to  their  kinship 
with  Roger  M.  Sherman.  The  sister  of  Judge 
Sherman  married  the  Rev.  Justus  Mitchell, 
an  ancestor  of  these  famous  orators. 

Judge  Sherman  himself  was  the  son  of  a 
minister,  another  illustration  of  the  high  favor 
granted  to  the  offspring  of  this  poverty-stricken 
class  of  men.  In  a  recent  letter  to  the  writer 
Senator  Hoar  observes : 

"  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  the  present 
generation  in  Connecticut  were  not  aware  how 
very  great  a  man  he  was.  I  sat  a  few  years 
ago,  at  a  Yale  College  commencement,  be- 
tween President  Woolsey  and  the  Rev.  Leon- 


196         AN   OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

ard  Bacon.  Dr.  Atwater  sat  right  opposite, 
so  that  all  three  joined  in  the  conversation. 
President  Woolsey  told  me  that  Roger  Minot 
Sherman  came  nearer  his  conception  of  Cicero 
than  any  other  human  being  he  had  ever  heard 
speak.  He  said  Mr.  Sherman  was  unwilling 
to  speak  anywhere  but  in  court  in  his  own 
county.  He  was  invited  frequently  to  deliver 
addresses  or  orations  at  Yale  College,  but 
always  refused.  Dr.  Atwater  and  Dr.  Bacon 
both  assented  very  cordially  to  President 
Woolsey's  estimate  of  Mr.  Sherman. 

"  When  I  was  in  Harvard  Law  School  Pro- 
fessor Greenleaf,  one  of  the  most  famous 
lawyers  and  jurists  of  the  country,  told  the 
class  one  day,  in  a  lecture,  that  some  years 
before  he  was  journeying  in  the  summer  in  his 
own  carriage  through  Connecticut.  He  said 
he  stopped  in  Fairfield  for  dinner.  While  his 
horse  was  being  fed  and  dinner  was  getting 
ready,  he  went  to  the  court-house,  where  he 
found  Roger  Minot  Sherman  and  Judge  Gould 
arguing  a  case  on  opposite  sides.  He  was  so 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.      197 

interested  in  the  argument  that  he  remained 
through  the  afternoon,  and  then  in  the  town 
during  the  entire  week,  for  the  purpose  of  hear- 
ing these  two  gentlemen's  legal  discussions, 
although  he  had  intended  to  remain  but  an 
hour  or  two. 

"  I  also  heard  a  story  of  an  eminent  New 
York  lawyer  from  whose  clients  a  vessel,  with 
a  valuable  cargo,  had  been  seized  on  a  replevin 
process.  They  thought  they  had  a  clear  title, 
and  their  lawyer  visited  the  lawyer  in  Con- 
necticut, under  whose  direction  the  suit  had 
been  brought,  expecting  to  get  an  easy  and 
favorable  settlement.  The  Connecticut  lawyer 
really  had  no  case.  He  had  taken  the  opinion 
of  Roger  Minot  Sherman,  who  had  so  advised. 
But  he  took  the  document  and  wrote  on  the 
outside  of  it  '  Roger  Minot  Sherman's  Opinion,' 
and  put  it  on  his  table  where  the  New  York 
lawyer  could  see  it.  The  name  caught  the 
eye  of  the  New  York  lawyer,  who  thought  his 
antagonist  had  got  Sherman's  opinion  and  was 
acting  upon  it.  He  was  very  much  frightened, 


198          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

and  supposed  Sherman  had  given  an  opinion 
favorable  to  his  antagonist,  and  settled  the  suit 
on  good  terms  for  the  other  side." 

When  Judge  Sherman  began  the  practice  of 
law  in  Fairfield,  the  town  still  held  its  own 
among  the  centres  of  activity  in  Connecticut, 
and  yet  it  was  rather  by  moral  force,  for  the 
trend  of  population  was  in  other  directions. 
The  quiet  of  the  place  and  the  intellectual 
atmosphere  were  especially  attractive  to  the 
young  practitioner.  It  mattered  little  to  him 
that  business  sought  larger  fields  and  better 
opportunities. 

"  He  was  a  profound  metaphysician,"  says 
the  historian,  "  a  scholar  equal  to  the  younger 
Adams,  who  seemed  more  fitly  than  any  other 
man  to  represent  the  lawgiver,  Roger  Ludlow, 
and  to  inhabit  the  town  which  he  had  planted." 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  two  men, 
Ludlow  and  Sherman,  have  had  as  much  or 
more  to  do  with  the  making  of  laws  for  this 
Commonwealth  than  any  other  two  men  con- 
nected with  our  history. 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     199 

Mr.  Sherman  was  not  long  established  in  his 
practice  ere  he  gave  himself  to  the  various 
public  interests  of  the  town.  He  never  sought 
office.  He  often  declined  honors.  But  when 
it  was  made  evident  that  the  people  wished  him 
to  serve  in  any  particular  capacity,  and  he  felt 
that  it  was  within  his  power  to  serve,  he  mani- 
fested a  conscientious  willingness.  Moderator 
of  a  town  meeting,  road  commissioner,  trustee 
of  the  academy,  member  of  the  assembly, 
deacon  in  the  church,  delegate  to  the  Hartford 
convention,  judge  of  the  Superior  Court — it 
mattered  not  where  he  was  placed.  He  was 
faithful  to  his  charge,  and  he  contributed  the 
wealth  of  his  rectitude  and  wisdom  to  the 
problems  given  him  to  solve. 

A  rapid  survey  of  his  correspondence  reveals 
the  breadth  of  his  culture  and  influence.  Gov- 
ernor John  Cotton  Smith,  Chauncey  Goodrich, 
Senator  Hillhouse,  Mr.  Crawford  (Secretary  of 
the  Treasury),  Sir  Robert  Peel,  B.  F.  Butler, 
President  Dwight,  Governor  Seward,  Charles 
O'Conor,  and  scores  of  men  prominent  in 


2OO         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

literature,  science,  law,  religion,  politics,  educa- 
tion, statesmanship,  were  accustomed  to  take 
counsel  with  him  on  matters  of  state,  national, 
and  international  importance. 

In  1823  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Ells- 
worth wrote  to  Judge  Sherman  for  advice 
upon  the  choice  of  a  profession.  Young  Ells- 
worth was  a  man  of  fine  character  and  good 
promise.  He  was  a  lawyer,  but  the  ministry 
seemed  to  present  the  larger  opportunities  for 
usefulness.  Judge  Sherman  replied  :  "  You 
have  devoted  very  successfully  a  valuable  part 
of  life  to  the  attainment  of  requisite  qualifica- 
tions for  distinction  and  usefulness  at  the  bar, 
and  if  you  persevere  will  soon  arrive,  with  the 
blessing  of  Providence,  to  highest  rank  in 
the  profession.  .  .  .  You  ought  to  follow  the 
dictates  of  your  own  heart ;  your  inclination 
should  be  your  rule  of  duty  ;  you  will  be  most 
useful  in  the  employment  with  which  you  are 
most  delighted." 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  Mr.  Ells- 
worth continued  to  shine  with  the  light  of 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     2OI 

Christian  manhood  in  the  legal  profession,  and 
that  he  became  famous  as  professor  of  law, 
member  of  Congress,  governor  of  Connecticut, 
and  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

In  connection  with  this  letter  is  another 
upon  the  choice  between  the  ministry  and  the 
law.  In  reply  to  inquiries,  Judge  Sherman 
observes :  "  All  pious  men  in  the  profession  of 
law  not  only  may,  but  many  actually  do,  accom- 
plish much  for  the  interests  of  religion  and 
their  country.  In  these  respects  I  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  their  usefulness  is  un- 
dervalued by  the  Christian  community.  But 
whatever  sincerity  and  zeal  any  of  them  may 
profess,  their  means  are  comparatively  limited. 
Without  the  ministry,  piety  would  languish 
and  ultimately  expire  ;  the  liberties  of  our 
country  not  long  survive.  Jurists  are  neces- 
sary to  the  administration  of  a  good  govern- 
ment ;  but  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is 
essential  to  its  existence." 

Letters   of   this   sort   were   sent   not    infre- 


202          AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

quently  to  all  parts  of  the  land.  Now  he 
writes  to  Mr.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, in  reference  to  the  United  States  Bank. 

In  1837  ne  writes  to  another  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Mr.  Levi  Woodbury,  on  "  The 
Enormous  Expansion  of  the  Currency  beyond 
Natural  Limits." 

Again,  in  1841  and  1842,  Judge  Sherman 
writes  to  set  forth  a  "  Plan  for  the  Safe-keeping 
and  Disbursement  of  the  Public  Revenue,  for 
a  Uniform  Currency,  and  for  facilitating  Ex- 
changes in  the  United  States."  This  corres- 
pondence was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  both  in 
the  Senate  and  the  House ;  and  it  was  made 
the  basis  for  plans  which  these  committees 
reported  to  the  two  branches  of  Congress. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  one  time  a 
nomination  to  the  position  of  representative 
in  Congress  was  urged  upon  Judge  Sherman, 
but  he  declined.  At  a  later  date  the  oppor- 
tunity came  when  the  State  would  have  been 
glad  to  choose  him  to  represent  her  in  the 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     203 

United  States  Senate ;  but  certain  views  which 
Judge  Sherman  held  were  not  agreeable  to  his 
party,  and  he  was  not  willing  to  compromise 
his  position. 

It  is  evident  that  such  a  man  must  exert  a 
large  and  commanding  influence  in  a  commu- 
nity. The  lustre  of  his  name  was  shared  by  the 
town  which  made  his  home.  Gideon  Welles 
once  remarked  that  in  his  opinion  Judge  Sher- 
man had  but  one  peer  as  a  lawyer  in  New 
England,  and  that  man  was  Daniel  Webster. 
Judge  Osborne,  who  represented  this  district 
in  the  House  for  four  years,  said  that  he  had 
found  but  one  man  the  superior  of  Judge 
Sherman,  and  that  was  the  one  already  named, 
Mr.  Webster. 

New  York,  Boston,  the  South,  the  West, 
sent  invitations  to  Judge  Sherman,  desiring 
him  to  address  them  upon  literary,  ethical, 
and  political  questions ;  but  he  chose  to  tarry 
at  home,  devoting  himself  to  the  narrow 
round  of  agreeable  tasks  peculiar  to  his  station 
and  opportunity  in  Fairfield  and  Connecticut. 


204         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

His  devotion  to  local  interests  was  unremitting. 
The  stamp  of  his  personality  was  put  upon 
church  life  and  social  life.  He  conserved  and 
fostered  that  type  of  character  which  is  the 
consummate  flower  of  the  noblest  Puritan  tra- 
ditions and  influences. 

It  would  scarcely  seem  fitting  to  speak  of 
the  contributions  made  by  Judge  Sherman  to 
the  life  of  Fairfield,  and  omit  to  say  something 
about  the  hospitable  mansion  which  he  built 
and  made  his  home.  The  amplitude  and  con- 
spicuousness  of  it  were  unconsciously  symbolic 
of  the  great  man  living  within  its  walls.  At 
the  time  the  house  was  constructed  it  was 
said  to  be  the  most  elegant  and  imposing 
residence  in  this  section. 

Tradition  says  that  when  the  parlor  carpets 
ordered  abroad  arrived  in  Fairfield,  it  was  dis- 
covered they  were  some  seven  feet  too  long 
for  the  rooms ;  so  it  was  decided  to  build  an 
extension  at  the  end  of  each  parlor,  lengthen- 
ing out  the  rooms  to  the  required  size.  It  is 
not  for  the  writer  to  assert  the  truth  of  this 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     20$ 

tradition  ;  but  certain  it  is  that  the  wings  were 
added,  and  the  rooms  assumed  the  elongated 
character  described.  At  various  periods  there 
were  alterations — a  piazza  here  and  there,  an 
extension,  an  additional  cellar,  so  that  there 
were  finally  three,  and  other  improvements. 

The  number  of  closets  increased  until  the 
time  when  the  property  was  given  into  the 
keeping  of  the  Congregational  church.  At 
that  period  the  closets  numbered  sixty.  They 
were  upstairs  and  downstairs,  in  the  attic  and 
in  the  cellars,  out  of  the  living-rooms  and  out 
of  the  chambers — closets  in  closets,  and  closets 
in  closets  in  closets. 

That  generous  and  noble  woman,  Mrs.  Sher- 
man, daughter  of  Judge  Gould,  of  Litchfield, 
was  an  invalid  during  the  latter  years  of  her 
life,  so  she  was  not  able  to  go  into  the  second 
story  of  the  mansion.  Nevertheless  we  are 
told  that  she  kept  exact  account  of  all  the  con- 
tents carefully  stored  in  this  numerous  family 
of  closets  ;  and  it  was  her  sweet  delight  to 
dispense  linen,  preserves,  flannels,  calico,  herbs, 


206         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

pickles,  cotton  cloth,  hams,  and  other  like  com- 
modities, treasured  in  separate  closets,  to  a 
numerous  and  appreciative  constituency  of 
friends  or  dependents.  The  beneficence  of 
Mrs.  Sherman  was  limited  only  by  the  size  and 
number  of  her  closets.  That  she  was  a  woman 
of  remarkable  mind  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  she  carried  in  memory  this  whole  laby- 
rinth of  closet  mystery. 

Her  successors  in  the  mansion  have  set  the 
limit  of  closets  at  forty  or  thereabouts ;  but 
admiration  of  Mrs.  Sherman  increases  year  by 
year,  as  memory  fails  to  keep  account  of  two- 
thirds  the  number  she  arranged. 

When  on  occasion  the  parsonage  children 
disappear  for  hours,  and  an  unnatural,  mys- 
terious silence  pervades  that  realm,  and  it  is 
at  length  discovered  that  the  children  are 
simply  lost,  as  it  were,  in  the  home  territory 
of  some  far  distant  and  not  recently  explored 
closet ;  or  when  on  some  other  occasion  the 
parsonage  dog  is  conspicuous  by  his  absence, 
and  the  neighborhood  is  explored  by  anxious 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     2O/ 

friends,  and  his  departure  widely  advertised, 
and  on  the  second  or  third  day  the  search 
party  call  to  mind  that  they  forgot  to  investi- 
gate closet  number  thirty-seven,  and  after  a 
hasty  and  thorough  inspection  of  the  same 
the  modest  animal  is  found  quietly  sleeping  in 
a  most  agreeable  retirement  from  the  trouble- 
some world ;  or  when  a  new  dress  has  been 
secreted  with  such  discriminating  sagacity  that 
the  person  who  secretes  it  loses  all  traces  of 
journey  to  the  place  of  security,  forgets  all 
about  the  dress  itself,  and  some  two .  years 
later,  in  a  fit  of  interesting  research,  conies 
suddenly  upon  the  garment,  only  to  find  that 
the  children  have  all  outgrown  it,  and  it  must 
now  be  kept  for  the  grandchildren  or  sent 
down  to  the  Fresh  Air  Home  ;  when  experi- 
ences of  the  kind  just  noted  occur,  and  recur, 
and  concur,  the  tribute  to  Mrs.  Sherman's 
genius  is  only  matched  by  the  frank  expres- 
sions of  shame  and  contempt  which  the  pres- 
ent successors  of  the  saintly  Lady  Bountiful 
heap  upon  themselves. 


208          AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

There  are  worse  things  than  having  forty  or 
sixty  closets  in  a  house.  The  having  none  at 
all.  for  instance.  So  the  minister  submits  with 
grace,  cultivating  a  spirit  of  levity,  in  so  far  as 
that  is  possible,  when  a  dog,  a  child,  a  book,  a 
suit  of  clothes,  a  piece  of  jewelry,  a  pot  of  jam, 
next  Sunday's  sermon,  or  some  other  piece  of 
property  goes  into  strict  retirement  for  a  week, 
or  a  year.  There  is  a  settled  conviction  that 
sooner  or  later  somebody  will  come  across 
the  missing  article.  One  has  a  feeling  that 
he  has  the  thing  in  his  possession,  and  that 
it  is  perfectly  safe ;  but  just  at  the  moment, 
through  some  mental  aberration  or  aggravated 
imbecility,  he  is  not  able  to  put  his  hands 
upon  it. 

But  the  goodness  of  Judge  Sherman  and 
his  wife  is  not  to  be  measured  by  this  hospi- 
table mansion.  Their  good-will  was  expressed 
by  the  gift  of  a  farm. 

Doubtless  they  saw,  as  it  were,  in  a  bright 
vision,  the  light-hearted  minister  of  the  parish 
rising  with  the  birds  on  a  May  morning  and 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     209 

hastening  forth  into  the  fields  with  all  the 
ardor  of  youth.  Was  it  grass,  wheat,  potatoes, 
or  onions  that  the  theological  tiller  of  the  soil 
sought  with  such  enthusiasm  ?  It  mattered 
not,  so  long  as  the  faithful  minister  set  his 
people  a  notable  example  of  early  hours,  en- 
joyed delectable  intimacy  with  nature,  and 
revelled  in  the  profits  of  enormous  crops. 

What  did  it  concern  him  as  to  salary  or  no 
salary?  Did  he  not  have  the  farm  to  fall  back 
upon,  and  would  not  this  large  income  from 
the  fruit  of  the  ground  enable  him  to  keep  his 
carriage  or  take  an  occasional  trip  to  Europe  ? 
Little  did  these  generous  people,  with  all  their 
forethought  and  imagination,  conceive  the 
worth  of  this  precious  estate  to  their  suc- 
cessors. 

Let  one  throw  aside  all  consideration  of 
the  immense  pecuniary  benefit,  and  dwell  upon 
accompanying  advantages.  Is  not  the  ampli- 
tude of  the  domain  like  a  subtle  influence 
upon  the  personality  of  the  minister?  Room 
for  growth ;  perpetual  encouragement  to  ex- 
14 


2IO         AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

pansion,  through  this  affiliation  with  broad 
acres. 

And  what  an  opportunity  for  children  ? 
Field  upon  field  in  which  to  ramble,  fence 
upon  fence  to  demolish,  infinite  variety  of 
weeds  to  classify  and  become  familiar  with,  a 
skating  park  in  the  winter,  a  safe  pond  where 
they  can  all  get  speedily  and  satisfactorily 
soaked  in  the  springtime,  baseball  grounds 
through  the  summer,  and  always  a  retired  and 
sacred  place  where  the  whole  family  can  wan- 
der on  Sunday  afternoons  and  hide  the  mis- 
chief, racket,  and  general  desolation  which 
appertain  to  that  particular  period  on  the 
calendar. 

Think  also  of  the  farm  as  a  means  of  disci- 
pline. It  is  a  Lord's  Day  morning,  and  the 
minister  has  just  donned  his  best  go-to-meeting 
coat,  when  the  cry  is  raised  that  the  calf  has 
escaped  into  the  garden,  and  the  mother  cow 
is  exercising  her  lungs  and  her  heels  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  law  in  her  chase  after  the  wan- 
dering and  frisky  offspring.  The  minister  pro- 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     211 

ceeds  to  join  the  general  disturbance ;  and 
just  as  the  last  bell  rings,  the  worshippers  in 
this  land  of  steady  habits  gaze  in  amazement 
upon  the  whole  parsonage  contingent,  headed 
by  the  minister  himself,  engaged  in  what  ap- 
pears to  be  a  wild  game  of  tag  or  fox-and- 
geese.  A  discipline  in  patience ! 

Consider  the  self-control  which  such  circum- 
stances develop.  The  children  of  the  com- 
munity take  happy  possession  of  the  fields, 
leave  the  bars  down  and  the  gates  open,  and 
the  domestic  animals  vote  to  take  a  walk  and 
a  run  through  town  by  way  of  relaxation  and 
variety.  The  news  is  hastily  conveyed  to  the 
student  buried  in  his  books.  This  is  a  busi- 
ness which  requires  haste  :  so  without  change 
of  garments  he  starts  in  pursuit,  sending  some 
seven  or  ten  interested  and  excited  helpers  in 
as  many  directions  in  order  to  gather  up  the 
wandering  animals.  Just  in  the  heat,  dust, 
confusion,  of  the  swift  and  successful  capture 
of  the  strayed  stock,  some  of  the  city  brethren 
drive  down  the  street,  and,  meeting  the  caval- 


212          AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND   TOWN. 

cade,  look  with  amazement  if  not  alarm  upon 
the  hardly  distinguishable  features  of  the  min- 
ister, as  he  seeks  to  avoid  their  gaze,  and  then 
hears  the  remark,  made  with  something  of  sly 
wit  and  cunning  reproach  in  it,  "  I  wonder  if 
the  pastor  of  the  old  church  is  going  into  the 
cattle  business  ?  " 

Patience,  self-control,  fellow-feeling.  For 
when  the  minister  farms  it,  he  watches  the 
skies  in  time  of  drought,  and  most  earnestly 
desires  rain  ;  and  when  the  season  is  wet,  he 
most  earnestly  desires  dry  weather.  When 
frost  and  hail  and  blight  and  wind  come,  he 
goes  among  the  people  with  the  same  worn 
and  helpless  expression  of  countenance. 

But  it  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  matter 
further.  The  noble  judge  and  his  gracious 
lady  did  a  fine  thing  in  bequeathing  all  these 
properties  and  possibilities  to  the  minister. 
When  we  look  upon  the  two  beautiful  por- 
traits which  adorn  the  east  parlor  of  the  old 
mansion,  and  catch  something  of  inspiration 
from  the  two  notable  faces  which  look  down 


JUDGE  ROGER  M.  SHERMAN.     213 

upon  us  ;  when  we  gaze  dreamily  upon  the  old 
clock  which  fills  the  corner  of  the  west  parlor, 
and  think  upon  the  history  which  it  has  seen 
made,  and  the  famous  people  it  has  watched  in 
social  fellowship  with  the  master  of  the  house 
— well,  it  all  quickens  gratitude,  and  works  to 
personal  enrichment.  We  rejoice  in  the  memo- 
ries which  cluster  about  Sherman  parsonage. 

It  was  when  the  judge  was  gone  that  the 
court-house  and  jail  were  removed  to  Bridge- 
port. The  struggle  was  a  characteristic  one 
while  it  waged.  The  daughter  settlement  had 
outstripped  the  mother  colony  in  respect  to 
numbers  and  enterprise.  Business  centred  in 
the  neighboring  city ;  and  Bridgeport  said 
that  she  must  have  the  county  buildings. 
Hon.  John  Gould  headed  the  opposition,  and 
he  with  other  citizens  worked  faithfully  in 
behalf  of  Fairfield  ;  but  it  proved  a  losing  bat- 
tle. The  old  town  lost  one  of  its  most  inter- 
esting features  when  the  courts  convened  no 
more  in  the  little  hall  on  the  Green.  It  came 
like  a  break  with  the  past.  And  this  enforced 


214         AN   OLD   NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

gift  to  Bridgeport  was  to  be  followed  by  gifts 
of  territory  and  men,  until  it  might  almost 
appear  that  the  old  town  herself  had  reached 
over  to  the  city  and  quietly  taken  possession 
in  the  name  of  an  honored  and  illustrious  past. 
The  first  jail  or  prison  in  town  was  built  in 
1679.  This  building  was  set  on  fire  by  a  pris- 
oner, and  burned  to  the  ground.  A  second 
one  was  soon  erected.  Destroyed  by  the  Brit- 
ish, this  jail  was  replaced  by  another  structure. 
The  last  one  was  constructed  of  brick  in  1853, 
or  partly  constructed.  For  it  was  at  this  date 
that  the  county  buildings  were  removed  to 
Bridgeport,  and  the  old  jail  property  was 
transformed  a  little  later  into  an  edifice  de- 
voted to  more  worshipful  purposes. 


XII. 

Historic  Memories  and  Rural  Inspirations. 


XII. 

HISTORIC     MEMORIES    AND     RURAL 
INSPIRATIONS. 

THE  life  of  this  old  New  England  town  has 
had  an  indefinable  charm.  The  present  gene- 
ration still  reads  Miss  Mitford's  "  Our  Village" 
with  delight.  And  while  Fairfield  boasted  a 
culture  surpassed  not  a  whit  by  neighboring 
cities,  she  still  retained  that  simplicity  and 
freedom  of  spirit  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  pre- 
serve amid  the  exacting  demands  of  great 
business  and  social  centres. 

Nature  had  dealt  generously  with  the  village, 
and  people  prized  her  friendship.  To  be  sure, 
it  was  Nature  unadorned,  for  the  days  had  not 
come  when  men  spent  much  time  upon  well- 
trimmed  lawns  and  landscape-gardening.  But 
even  in  this  respect  Fairfield  was  ahead  of  her 


218          AN  OLD   NEW   ENGLAND   TOWN. 

neighbors.  It  may  not  have  been  expedient 
for  Mr.  Hunter  to  speak  with  such  wit  and 
sarcasm  concerning  old  fences,  brier-grown 
yards,  neglected  burial  grounds,  slipshod 
houses,  but  the  people  early  manifested  a 
spirit  of  community  pride  and  service. 

When  Mr.  Jonathan  Sturges  laid  out  the 
grounds  of  his  place,  a  landscape-gardener  was 
employed,  and  the  first  work  of  the  kind  done 
in  this  section  of  the  country  became  an  object 
lesson  of  incalculable  value  to  the  State.  The 
same  spirit  which  prompted  Dr.  Samuel  Os- 
good,  later  in  the  century,  to  devote  many 
happy  hours  to  giving  Nature  a  chance  to  do 
her  best  and  shine  her  untrammelled  beauty 
into  the  eyes  of  men,  that  same  spirit  mani- 
fested itself  on  occasion  during  the  early  days. 
But  the  venerable  trees,  the  old-fashioned 
flower-gardens,  the  open  Green,  the  many 
singing  birds,  the  changeful  sea,  the  beautiful 
hills  that  protected  portions  of  the  town,  the 
well-tilled  acres,  and  the  broad  pasture  lands 
where  lazy  herds  of  cattle  quietly  grazed  or 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  219 

flocks  of  sheep  were  shepherded  by  the  boys — 
these  things  gave  an  air  of  comfort,  inspiration, 
enjoyment,  infinitely  suggestive  and  restful. 

Family  life  was  sweet  and  eventful.  Did 
Tom,  Dick,  or  Harry  desire  to  push  fur- 
ther into  the  world  than  farming  or  the  law 
gave  them  opportunity,  they  had  simply  to  go 
out  to  the  suburbs  of  Fairfield,  and  business 
opened  before  them  with  promise. 

There  was  Southport,  scarcely  a  stone's 
throw  from  Fairfield,  a  thriving,  lively  little 
borough.  The  regard  of  the  mother  village 
for  her  offspring  was  so  deep  that  she  gave 
Trinity  Church  to  the  new  borough.  Fearing 
that  one  ecclesiastical  organization  might  not 
be  able  to  cope  with  the  powers  of  darkness 
and  the  inherent  tendencies  to  evil  of  the 
neighbors  by  Pequot  swamp,  the  mother 
church  again  contributed  a  part  of  her  life 
to  form  another  body  of  the  Congregational 
order,  and  a  blessing  was  pronounced  upon  the 
missionary  task. 

Another  suburb  of  Fairfield  that  afforded  a 


22O          AN   OLD   NEW    ENGLAND   TOWN. 

fine  chance  for  a  young  man  was  the  lively 
and  ambitious  city  of  Bridgeport.  When  the 
people  on  the  borders  wanted  to  form  a  church 
and  support  a  minister,  in  1695,  our  town  was 
opposed  to  it.  The  people  were  loath  to  part 
with  these  good  neighbors.  But  better  coun- 
sel prevailed,  and  the  first  church  of  Strathfield, 
or  Bridgeport,  was  formed.  When  it  came  to 
a  desire  for  more  territory,  during  this  century, 
Fairfield  was  well  disposed  toward  this  par- 
ticular suburb.  A  generous  portion  of  land 
was  handed  over  to  the  enterprising  young 
city.  With  such  gift  the  growth  and  activity 
of  the  place  seemed  quickened  in  correspond- 
ing measure.  So  our  youth  were  enabled  to 
turn  their  minds  to  trade  and  manufacture 
with  ease  if  they  so  elected. 

When  any  son  of  these  old  and  respected 
families  yearned  for  richer  pastures  and  dreamed 
of  grander  scenes,  he  had  simply  to  push  a 
little  farther  in  a  suburban  direction  and  he 
came  to  New  York.  So  it  occurred  that  time 
after  time,  when  the  home,  the  academy,  nature, 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  221 

and  society  here  in  Fairfield  had  done  their 
best  to  equip  the  boy,  he  would  go  down  to 
the  great  metropolis,  fling  himself  with  enthu- 
siasm into  the  work,  and  make  a  fortune  and  a 
name  that  rendered  him  conspicuous  in  the  land. 
Then  came  the  glad  return  to  the  place  of  na- 
tivity, a  fresh  courtship  of  health,  beauty,  and 
peace  by  seaside  and  in  familiar  fields  or  forests. 
It  was  a  beautiful  tribute  which  the  poet, 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  paid  to  Mr.  Jonathan 
Sturges,  one  of  these  boys  that  pushed  for 
larger  opportunities.  The  occasion  was  the 
retirement  of  this  honored  citizen  from  active 
business.  "  I  shall  not  offend,  I  hope,  the 
modesty  of  our  friend,"  observed  Mr.  Bryant, 
"  if  I  congratulate  his  friends  here  assembled 
that  he  has  closed  a  long  and  prosperous 
course  of  business  without  yielding  to  its 
temptations  and  with  a  perfectly  unsullied 
character."  It  is  such  contributions  that  the 
country  is  all  the  time  making  to  our  cities. 
Brooklyn  honors  the  distinguished  lawyer, 
Benjamin  D.  Silliman,  with  a  public  dinner, 


222         AN   OLD   NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

and  she  speaks  gratefully  of  her  indebtedness 
to  the  old  New  England  town. 

When  these  men  return  to  the  place  of  na- 
tivity it  becomes  their  joy  and  pride  to  put 
into  tangible  forms  the  deep  affection  which 
sweetens  life.  An  institution  like  the  Pequot 
Library,  founded  by  honored  philanthropists, 
named  to  commemorate  the  conflict  with  the 
Indians  in  1637,  is  a  precious  fruitage  of  this 
noble  spirit  called  local  patriotism.  Several 
of  the  public  roads  which  thread  their  way 
along  our  levels  or  run  back  into  our  hills  wit- 
ness to  the  same  generous  and  loyal  spirit  ; 
while  such  a  structure  as  our  vine-clad  sixth 
sanctuary,  with  its  setting  of  restful  verdure 
and  its  company  of  stately  tree  sentinels,  is  a 
most  beautiful  memorial  to  the  good,  the  true, 
the  learned,  the  eminent,  of  the  past,  reared 
by  the  reverent  devotion  of  many  sons  and 
daughters  who  treasure  the  inspirations  which 
are  fountained  in  by-gone  generations. 

Through  these  years  there  has  been  such 
intimacy  between  the  old  town  and  the  grow- 


J 


.-N 

V 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  223 

ing  centres  of  business,  education,  professional 
activity,  that  never  a  sign  of  stagnation  appears. 
It  was  not  an  uninteresting  and  monotonous  life 
which  the  people  lived  during  these  later  days. 

The  tea-party  still  continued  a  popular  and 
useful  mode  of  entertainment.  Who  could 
make  the  most  kinds  of  the  best  cake,  was  a 
question  that  required  perpetual  readjustment. 
The  flavor  of  chipped  beef  and  the  quality  of 
preserves  were  matters  frequently  discussed. 
But  these  things  were  incidental.  People  met 
for  the  afternoon  that  they  might  canvass  the 
diverse  and  multifarious  interests  of  the  com- 
munity and  the  nation.  Newspapers  were  not 
the  every-day  thing  that  they  now  are.  Con- 
versation still  supplied  the  place  of  periodicals 
to  a  large  extent. 

Then  there  came  the  weekly  "  sewing  socie- 
ties "  for  the  ladies,  and  the  occasional  "  bees  " 
for  the  men.  When  a  building  was  to  be 
raised,  it  was  considered  a  community  affair. 
It  is  a  fact  that  often  the  assembled  citizens 
did  more  than  raise  the  building  ;  that  is  to 


224         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

say,  we  have  it  recorded  that  on  many  an  occa- 
sion they  "  raised  Cain  "  as  well.  For  these 
good  people  were  nothing  if  not  hospitable  on 
such  days.  Happy  thing  was  it  for  the  town, 
if  no  more  than  one  leg  was  broken,  or  rib 
crushed,  or  head  smashed,  by  a  fall  from  some 
dizzy  height.  And  there  was  the  annual  wood- 
cutting, with  a  sort  of  donation  for  the  minister, 
when  everybody  brought  something  or  nothing, 
and  tried  hard  not  to  carry  away  from  the 
festivity  more  than  he  had  brought  to  it. 

There  was  also  the  singing  school.  It 
would  be  an  unpardonable  omission,  and  a 
notably  incomplete  picture  of  the  times,  did 
one  forget  these  occasions  when  music  and 
courtship  mingled  in  varying  proportions  and 
furnished  unlimited  food  for  gossip,  conjecture, 
anticipation.  These  were  the  good  old  times. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  young  people  had 
voices ;  and  the  unlucky  ones  that  did  not 
have  voices  knew  some  one  that  did,  so  that 
it  was  necessary  for  the  second  class  to  be  on 
hand  that  they  might  look  after  the  first. 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  22$ 

Music  appeals  to  the  emotional  nature.  Is 
it  a  wonder  that  tragedy  and  comedy  found 
places  in  these  little  neighborhood  gatherings  ? 
All  the  arts  and  artifices  peculiar  to  the  two 
sexes  during  the  mating  period  of  life  were 
manifest  in  their  manifold  variations  on  these 
eventful  occasions.  What  was  said  or  what 
was  left  unsaid,  what  one  did  and  what  another 
didn't  do,  how  such  an  one  looked  and  how 
another  one  acted — well,  it  is  the  familiar 
story  that  is  told  time  out  of  mind  by  people 
in  the  same  interesting  condition.  For  it  is 
true,  as  Emerson  says,  that  "  all  mankind  love 
a  lover."  The  larger  freedom  of  these  gather- 
ings made  them  happily  convenient  for  those 
significant  and  delicious  love  passes  which  were 
not  congenial  to  the  parlor,  when  the  parents 
and  small  children  were  close  at  hand  to  note 
each  tell-tale  look,  word,  act. 

We  are  also  to  bear  in  mind  that  Fairfield 

contained    the    usual   number  of    interesting 

people.     It  is  not  necessary  for  a  New  Eng- 

lander  to  have  any  nasal  dialect,  and  illiterate 

15 


226         AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

way  of  modifying  or  eliding  consonants  and 
vowels,  in  order  to  be  stamped  as  queer.  Peo- 
ple of  cultivation,  social  standing,  wealth, 
influence,  have  their  peculiarities.  So  that 
life  here  yielded  its  harvest  of  characteristic 
men  and  women.  Many  are  the  memories 
and  anecdotes  of  these  people.  Humor 
and  pathos,  pride  and  humility,  sorrow  and 
joy,  sunshine  and  shower,  they  all  appear 
in  these  personal  narratives.  A  very  rich 
treasure  of  character  sketches  might  be  gath- 
ered. 

The  academy  gave  its  impulse  to  society. 
Books  multiplied  in  the  pleasant  homes  of  the 
people.  There  were  lectures  upon  the  various 
questions  of  the  day.  Ministers  like  Dr. 
Humphrey,  who  became  president  of  Amherst 
College ;  Dr.  Hewit,  who  was  promoted  from 
Fairfield  to  Boston  ;  Dr.  Atwater,  who  served 
the  Prime  Ancient  Society  here  nineteen  years 
and  then  went  to  Princeton  College  as  profes- 
sor of  mental  and  moral  philosophy — ministers 
like  these  gathered  about  them  kindred  spirits 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  22? 

and  communicated  intellectual  as  well  as  moral 
vitality. 

And  there  were  many  eminent  visitors  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  who  continued  to  make 
Fairfield  a  kind  of  Mecca  for  occasional  pil- 
grimages. If  people  could  not  live  here  all 
the  year,  there  were  those  that  counted  them- 
selves happy  when  it  was  permitted  them  to 
live  here  a  part  of  the  year.  Good  men 
and  true  women,  who  found  life's  demands 
such  that  they  were  not  able  to  live  here  any 
part  of  the  year,  turned  with  infinite  loyalty 
and  affection  toward  Fairfield  during  the  last 
days  on  earth,  and  were  glad  to  die  here  or  be 
buried  beneath  its  precious  sod.  Unto  how 
many  people  did  the  rarely  beautiful  old  town 
come  to  be  like  an  earthly  paradise ! 

The  great  busy  world  might  sweep  onward 
along  the  ways  of  traffic,  conflict,  ambition. 
But  there  was  one  old  New  England  town 
begemmed  with  all  the  adornments  of  affluent 
nature.  To  the  witchery  of  changeful  skies,  and 
the  endless  variations  of  form  and  color  in 


228         AN  OLD  NEW   ENGLAND  TOWN. 

landscape,  there  were  added  the  many  moods 
of  the  seasons,  as  they  shifted  from  sad  to  gay, 
from  passion  of  April  to  fretfulness  of  Novem- 
ber, from  a  February  thaw  to  a  perfect  June 
day,  from  the  riot  of  a  March  tempest  to  the 
glory  of  an  October  sunset.  There  were  the 
broad  streets  guarded  by  the  stately  lines  of 
ancient  elms  and  maples,  their  graceful  branches 
reaching  across  to  each  other  and  getting 
lovingly  entwined,  so  that  the  blue  of  the  sky 
and  the  sheen  of  the  sun  were  only  occasionally 
seen  through  the  vivid,  green  of  the  living 
archway.  There  were  pleasant  homes  framed 
by  generous  yards,  reposing  amid  a  luxury  of 
manifold  trees.  There  were  the  songful  birds, 
freely  contributing  their  gayety  and  inspiration 
to  the  scene,  now  one  company  lingering  a  few 
days  or  a  few  weeks,  and  then  another  com- 
pany coming  on  to  take  their  places.  There 
was  the  sea,  averse  to  monotony,  now  blue, 
now  green,  now  silver,  now  gold,  flashing  back 
into  the  eyes  at  eventide  all  the  glory  of  rain- 
bows, at  one  hour  sweetly  tranquil,  at  another 


HISTORIC   MEMORIES.  229 

hour  wildly  riotous,  alternately  fondling  and 
abusing  those  who  trusted  themselves  to  her, 
the  subdued  melancholy  of  quiet  days  shading 
off  into  the  strong,  solemn,  majestic  symphony 
of  the  tempest. 

Amid  these  scenes  there  seemed  to  tarry  a 
throng  of  honored  men  and  women.  Their 
work,  sacrifice,  character,  had  all  been  wrought 
into  the  fame  of  the  place.  Their  virtues  con- 
tinued to  diffuse  benedictions.  Their  spirit 
still  gave  tone  to  life  and  rendered  sacred  the 
ancient  place.  Historic  memories,  rural  inspi- 
rations, patriotic  impulses,  blended  into  pure 
white  light,  making  this  old  New  England  town 
a  bright,  particular  star  in  the  firmament  of 
the  State. 

Such  contribution  to  the  good  of  men  and 
the  glory  of  this  Republic  has  been  made  by 
one  fair,  quiet  village  of  the  Pilgrim  and  the 
Puritan.  The  work  achieved  by  this  particular 
town  is  a  type  of  the  work  done  by  other  New 
England  villages.  The  current  of  vital  influ- 
ences pressing  through  the  stream  of  time  from 


230    AN  OLD  NEW  ENGLAND  TOWN. 

old  Fairfield  is  like  to  many  another  current  of 
vital  influences  whose  fountain  is  Plymouth, 
Litchfield,  Concord,  Lenox.  These  venerable 
and  famous  centres  of  life  have  taken  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  shaping  of  individual  and 
national  destiny.  It  is  for  the  true  American 
to  foster  this  unique  phase  of  life. 

Larger  and  larger  are  the  demands  which 
the  city  makes  upon  the  country.  May  the 
old  New  England  town  continue  its  generous 
gifts  to  the  commercial,  intellectual,  and  spir- 
itual development  of  our  beloved  land.  May 
the  men  who  were  born  in  these  sequestered, 
beautiful  places  return  with  loyalty  to  the 
familiar  associations,  and  write  their  gratitude 
in  the  tangible  form  of  rural  improvements 
and  praiseworthy  institutions. 


A    000  105  143    2 


